Method for identifying a G protein coupled glutamate receptor agonist and antagonist

ABSTRACT

Mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptors are identified, isolated and purified. The receptors have been cloned, sequenced and expressed by recombinant means. The receptors and antibodies thereby may be used to identify agonists and antagonists of G protein coupled glutamate receptor mediated neuronal excitation, as well as in methods of diagnosis.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

This invention was made with government support under grant number R37 AR-17803 awarded by the National Institutes of Health. The government has certain rights in the invention.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 08/101,676 filed Aug. 3, 1993 now abandoned; which in turn is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/672,007 filed Mar. 18, 1991 now abandoned; which in turn is a continuation in part of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/648,481 filed Jan. 30, 1991 now abandoned; which in turn is a continuation in part of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/626,806 filed Dec. 12, 1990 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The majority of nerve cell connections are chemical synapses. A neurotransmitter is released from the presynaptic terminal, typically in response to the arrival of an action potential in the neuron, and diffuses across the synaptic space to bind to membrane receptor proteins of the postsynaptic terminal. The binding of neurotransmitters to membrane receptors is coupled either to the generation of a permeability change in the postsynaptic cell or to metabolic changes.

Neurotransmitters produce different effects according to the type of receptor to which they bind. In general, those which produce effects that are rapid in onset and brief in duration bind receptors that act as ligand-gated ion channels, where binding almost instantly causes an ion flow across the membrane of the postsynaptic cell. Those neurotransmitters which act more like local chemical mediators bind to receptors that are coupled to intracellular enzymes, thereby producing effects that are slow in onset and more prolonged. These neurotransmitters alter the concentration of intracellular second messengers in the postsynaptic cell.

Four second messenger systems have been linked to neurotransmitter or hormone receptors and have been studied for their roles in the control of neuronal excitability. They are the adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase system, guanylate cyclase and cGMP-dependent protein kinase, the inositol trisphosphate/diacyl glycerol-protein kinase C system, and systems which are activated by calcium ions, such as the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase system. Thus, binding of a transmitter to a receptor may activate, for example, adenylate cyclase, thereby increasing the intracellular concentration of cAMP, which in turn activates protein kinases that phosphorylate specific proteins in the cells, such as those which form ion channels and thus alter the cells' electrical behavior. As with the ligand-gated ion channel transmitters, the effects can be either excitatory or inhibitory, and may affect the cell at many levels, including the pattern of gene expression. It is also believed that these chemical synapses, associated with second-messenger systems, may be involved in long-term changes that comprise the cellular basis of learning and memory.

The ligand-activated membrane receptors do not activate the second messenger systems directly, however, but via a membrane-bound protein, the GTP-binding protein (G protein), which binds GTP on the cytoplasmic surface of the cell membrane and thereby acts to couple adenylate cyclase to the membrane receptor. Neurotransmitter binding to the membrane receptor is believed to alter the conformation of the receptor protein to enable it to activate the G protein in the lipid bilayer, which then binds GTP at the cytoplasmic surface and produces a further change in the G protein to allow it to activate, e.g., an adenylate cyclase molecule to synthesize cAMP. When a ligand binds a receptor, an enzymatic cascade results as each receptor activates several molecules of G protein, which in turn activate more molecules of adenylate cyclase which convert an even larger number of ATPs to cAMP molecules, producing a substantial amplification from the initial event.

Glutamate, aspartate and their endogenous derivatives are believed to be the predominant excitatory neurotransmitters in the vertebrate central nervous system. (Krinjrvic, Phys. Rev. 54:418-540, 1974). Recently, glutamate has been described as playing a major, widespread role in the control of neuroendocrine neurons, possibly controlling not only the neuroendocrine system but other hypothalamic regions as well. Four major subclasses of glutamate receptors have been described but their characterization has until recently been limited to pharmacological and electrophysiological functional analyses. See generally, Hollman et al., Nature 342:643-648 (1989) and Sommer et al., Science 249:1580-1585 (1990). Three of the receptors, the quisqualate (QA/AMPA), kainate (KA), and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, are believed to be directly coupled to cation-specific ion channels and thus are classified as ligand-gated ionotropic receptors. The fourth glutamate receptor binds some of the agonists of the ionotropic receptors (quisqualate and glutamate, but not AMPA) but has no shared antagonists, and is coupled to G protein. Thus, this receptor, referred to as the G protein-coupled glutamate receptor, or Glu_(G) R, is pharmacologically and functionally distinct from the other major glutamate receptors. This receptor has also been termed the metabotropic receptor.

Agonist binding to Glu_(G) R has been shown to result in the activation of a number of second messenger systems, depending on the system studied. One of the best characterized is the quisqualate activation of phospholipase C through a G protein coupled interaction that leads to the stimulation of inositol phospholipid metabolism. This activity has been studied in systems that measure the accumulation of radiolabeled inositol monophosphate in response to stimulation by glutamate. The systems typically use brain slices from regions such as the hippocampus, striatum, cerebral cortex and hypothalamus (Nicoletti, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:1931-1935 (1986), and Nicoletti, et al., J. Neurochem. 46:40-46 (1986)) neuronal cultures derived from embryonic mouse and rat cerebellum, corpus striatum and cerebral cortex (Nicoletti et al., J. Neurosci. 6:1905-1911 (1986), Sladeczek et al., Nature 317:717-719 (1985), Dumuis, et al., Nature 347:182-184 (1990), and Drejer et al., J. Neurosci. 7:2910-2916 (1987)) and rat brain synaptosomes (Recasens et al., Eur. J. Pharm. 141:87-93 (1987), and Recasens et al., Neurochem. Int. 13:463-467 (1988)). A major disadvantage of each of these model systems is the difficulty in analyzing the pharmacological and functional activities of Glu_(G) R in an environment where other glutamate receptors and G protein-coupled receptors such as muscarinic and serotonin receptors are also present.

The Xenopus oocyte system has been used to identify Glu_(G) R as a member of the family of G protein-coupled receptors. An endogenous inositol triphosphate second messenger-mediated pathway in the oocyte allows the detection of Glu_(G) R after injection of total rat brain mRNA, in that the oocyte responds to ligand via the oocyte G protein-coupled PLC-mediated activation of a chloride channel that can be detected as a delayed, oscillatory current by voltage-clamp recording (Houamed et al., Nature 310:318-321 (1984); Gunderson et al., Proc. Royal Soc. B221:127-143 (1984); Dascal et al., Mol. Brain Res. 1:301-309 (1986); Verdoorn et al., Science 238:1114-1116 (1987); Sugiyama et al., Nature 325:531-533 (1987); Hirono et al., Neuros. Res. 6:106-114 (1988); Verdoorn and Dingledine, Mol. Pharmacol. 34:298-307 (1988); and Sugiyama et al., Neuron 3:129-132 (1989)). Injection of region-specific brain mRNA and of size fractionated mRNA have suggested that Glu_(G) R may be a large mRNA (6-7 kb) and that it is enriched in the cerebellum (Fong et al., Synapse 2:657-665 (1988) and Horikoshi et al., Neurosci. Lett. 105:340-343 (1989)).

There remains considerable need in the art for isolated and purified Glu_(G) R, as well as systems capable of expressing Glu_(G) R separate from other neurotransmitter receptors. Further, it would be desirable to specifically identify the presence of Glu_(G) R in cells and tissues, thereby avoiding the time-consuming, complex and nonspecific functional electrophysiological and pharmacological assays. It would also be desirable to screen and develop new agonists and/or antagonists specific for Glu_(G) R, but to date this has not been practical. Quite surprisingly, the present invention fulfills these and other related needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides isolated and substantially pure preparations of mammalian G protein-coupled glutamate receptors and fragments thereof. In preferred embodiments the receptors are coupled to a G protein in vertebrate cells, bind glutamate and quisqualate and thereby activate phospholipase C, and are capable of stimulating inositol phospholipid metabolism. Having provided such receptors in isolated and purified form, the invention also provides antibodies to the receptors, in the form of antisera and/or monoclonal antibodies.

In another aspect the invention provides the ability to produce the mammalian G protein-coupled glutamate receptors and polypeptides or fragments thereof by recombinant means, preferably in cultured eukaryotic cells. The expressed receptors or fragments may or may not have the biological activity of native corresponding receptors, and may or may not be coupled to a G protein in the cell used for expression. Accordingly, isolated and purified polynucleotides are described which code for the receptors and fragments thereof, where the polynucleotides may be in the form of DNA, such as cDNA or RNA. Based on these sequences probes may be used to hybridize and identify these and related genes which encode mammalian G protein-coupled glutamate receptors. The probes may be full length cDNA or as small as from 14 to 25 nucleotide, more often though from about 40 to about 50 or more nucleotides.

In related embodiments the invention concerns DNA constructs which comprise a transcriptional promoter, a DNA sequence which encodes the receptor or fragment, and a transcriptional terminator, each operably linked for expression of the receptor. For expression the construct may also contain at least one signal sequence. The constructs are preferably used to transform or transfect eukaryotic cells, more preferably mammalian cells which do not express endogenous G protein-coupled glutamate receptors. When bound by an appropriate ligand such as glutamate or quisqualate, the receptor may activate phospholipase C in the host cell via coupling to G protein. Further, for large scale production the expressed receptor may also be isolated from the cells by, for example, immunoaffinity purification.

Cells which express the G protein-coupled glutamate receptors may also be used to identify compounds which can alter the receptor-mediated metabolism of a eukaryotic cell. Compounds may be screened for binding to the receptor, and/or for effecting a change in receptor-mediated metabolism in the host cell. Agonists and/or antagonists of the G protein-coupled glutamate receptors may also be screened in cell-free systems using purified receptors or binding fragments thereof for the effect on ligand-receptor interaction, or using reconstituted systems such micelles which also provide the ability to assess metabolic changes.

In yet other embodiments the invention relates to methods for diagnosis, where the presence of a mammalian G protein-coupled glutamate receptor in a biological sample may be determined. For example, a monospecific antibody which specifically binds the receptor is incubated with the sample under conditions conducive to immune complex formation, which complexes are then detected, typically by means of a label such as an enzyme, fluorophore, radionuclide, chemiluminiscer, particle, or a second labeled antibody. Thus, means are provided for immunohistochemical staining of tissues, including brain tissues, for the subject receptors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates the construction of plasmid pVEGT, where FIG. 1A shows the construction of pVEG, FIG. 1B shows the construction of pVEG' and FIG. 1C shows pVEGT'. Symbols used are T7 pro, the T7 promoter; T1 and T2, synthetic and native T7 terminators, respectively; M13, M13 intergenic region; the parentheses indicate a restriction site destroyed in vector construction; and pA is the Aspergillus niger polyadenylate sequence.

FIG. 2 illustrates representative responses from voltage-clamp assays of oocytes injected with RNA from positive pools.

FIG. 3 illustrates a partial restriction map of clone 45-A.

FIG. 4 illustrates the cloning of the receptor cDNA present in clone 45-A into Zem228R.

FIG. 5 illustrates the DNA sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of clone 45-A (corresponding to Sequence ID Nos. 1 and 2). Numbers below the line refer to amino acid sequence, numbers to the right of the line refer to nucleotide number. Putative transmembrane domains have been overlined, and putative N-linked glycosylation sites are indicated by closed circles.

FIG. 6 illustrates a representative dose response curve for varying concentrations of L-glutamic acid. Error bars, where larger that the symbols represent SEM.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Glu_(G) R is a G protein coupled membrane receptor for the neurotransmitter glutamate. As glutamate has been described as having a major role in the control of neurons, particularly neuroendocrine neurons, Glu_(G) R may play a critical role in effectuating such control. Consequently, the development of agonists and antagonists of the Glu_(G) R-ligand interaction and Glu_(G) R-mediated metabolism is of great interest.

The present invention presents the means to identify agonists and antagonists of the Glu_(G) R-ligand interaction by providing isolated Glu_(G) R. The term "Glu_(G) R" refers to any protein either derived from a naturally occurring Glu_(G) R, or which shares significant structural and functional characteristics peculiar to a naturally occurring Glu_(G) R. Such a receptor may result when regions of a naturally occurring receptor are deleted or replaced in such a manner as to yield a protein having a similar function. Homologous sequences, allelic variations, and natural mutants; induced point, deletion, and insertion mutants; alternatively expressed variants; proteins encoded by DNA which hybridize under high or low stringency conditions to nucleic acids which encode naturally occurring Glu_(G) R-encoding nucleic acids; proteins retrieved from naturally occurring materials; and closely related proteins retrieved by antisera directed against Glu_(G) R proteins are also included.

By Glu_(G) R "ligand" is meant a molecule capable of being bound by the ligand-binding domain of Glu_(G) R, a Glu_(G) R analog, or chimeric Glu_(G) R as generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,609, incorporated by reference herein. The molecule may be chemically synthesized or may occur in nature. Ligands may be grouped into agonists and antagonists. Agonists are those molecules whose binding to a receptor induces the response pathway within a cell. Antagonists are those molecules whose binding to a receptor blocks the response pathway within a cell.

By "isolated" Glu_(G) R is meant to refer to Glu_(G) R which is in other than its native environment such as a neuron, including, for example, substantially pure Glu_(G) R as defined hereinbelow. More generally, isolated is meant to include Glu_(G) R as a heterologous component of a cell or other system. For example, Glu_(G) R may be expressed by a cell transfected with a DNA construct which encodes Glu_(G) R, separated from the cell and added to micelles which contain other selected receptors. In another example described below, Glu_(G) R is expressed by a cell which has been co-transfected with a gene encoding muscarinic receptor. Thus, in this context, the environment of isolated Glu_(G) R is not as it occurs in its native state, particularly when it is present in a system as an exogenous component.

The invention provides cloned Glu_(G) R coding sequences which are capable of expressing the Glu_(G) R protein. Complementary DNA encoding Glu_(G) R may be obtained by constructing a cDNA library from mRNA from, for example, brain tissue. The library may be screened by transcribing the library and injecting the resulting mRNA into oocytes and detecting, by functional assays, those oocytes which express the Glu_(G) R. Alternatively, the clones may be screened with a complementary labeled oligonucleotide probe.

The present invention relates to successfully isolating a cDNA encoding a Glu_(G) R. Functional cloning of Glu_(G) R was accomplished by substantial modifications and improvements to a number of cDNA cloning and molecular biology techniques. Initially, an enriched source of Glu_(G) R mRNA prepared by sucrose gradient centrifugation of >4 kb length rat cerebellum poly (A)+mRNA was used as template for cDNA synthesis. Further, a cDNA cloning vector that was employed included a poly (A) tail, thereby increasing by 40-fold the translational efficiency of the transcription product of the cDNA insert and a polylinker site to allow the directional cloning of the cDNA into the vector between the promoter and the poly (A) tail. Vector construction for directional cloning is described in co-pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/320,191, incorporated herein by reference. The cDNA cloning vector also was used with two transcriptional terminators, in tandem, following the poly (A) sequences, efficiently generating a unit length transcript product without non-coding plasmid or viral sequences, and without requiring a restriction endonuclease to linearize the DNA template (a standard practice that will often prevent functional cloning strategies from working due to the presence of the endonuclease site within the coding region of the cDNA). The cDNA synthesis strategy maximized insert size and recreation of the 5' end of the cDNA's, without introduction of homopolymer tails. cDNA inserts were size-selected to be greater than 4 kb in length before insertion into the vector. A library of 10⁶ cDNA inserts in pools of 100,000 were replica plated to cut down on the number of amplification steps in the fractionation of sequentially smaller pools. Moreover, m1 muscarinic cDNA (another G protein-coupled receptor coupled to phosphoinositol metabolism) template was included in transcription reactions of the subfractionated pools so that before injection the in vitro transcripts from each pool could be assayed by Northern analysis to assess relative quantity and quality of the mRNA, and by voltage-clamp of oocytes as an internal positive control for each oocyte not responding to quisqualate or glutamate. The inclusion of a dilution of SEAP-VEGT' (a secreted form of alkaline phosphatase) template in transcriptions was also employed so that oocytes selected for voltage-clamp analysis were those synthesizing higher levels of the co-injected Glu_(G) R mRNA. And further, low noise electrical recording techniques were used to monitor the small signals initially generated from rare transcripts.

With the Glu_(G) R and cDNA clones thereof provided herein, nucleotide and amino acid sequences may be determined by conventional means, such as by dideoxy sequencing. See generally, Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989, incorporated by reference herein. Genomic or cDNA sequences encoding Glu_(G) R and homologous receptors of this family may be obtained from libraries prepared from other mammalian species according to well known procedures. For instance, using oligonucleotide probes from rodent Glu_(G) R, such as whole length cDNA or shorter probes of at least about fourteen nucleotides to twenty-five or more nucleotides in length; often as many as 40 to 50 nucleotides, DNA sequences encoding Glu_(G) R of other mammalian species, such as lagomorph, avian, bovine, porcine, murine, etc. may be obtained. If partial clones are obtained, it is necessary to join them in proper reading frame to produce a full length clone, using such techniques as endonuclease cleavage, ligation and loopout mutagenesis.

A DNA sequence encoding Glu_(G) R is inserted into a suitable expression vector, which in turn is used to transfect eukaryotic cells. Expression vectors for use in carrying out the present invention will comprise a promoter capable of directing the transcription of a cloned DNA and a transcriptional terminator.

To direct proteins of the present invention for transport to the plasma membrane, at least one signal sequence is operably linked to the DNA sequence of interest. The signal sequence may be derived from the Glu_(G) R coding sequence, from other signal sequences described in the art, or synthesized de novo.

Host cells for use in practicing the present invention include mammalian, avian, plant, insect and fungal cells, but preferably mammalian cells. Fungal cells, including species of yeast (e.g., Saccharomyces spp., particularly S. cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces spp.) or filamentous fungi (e.g., Aspergillus spp., Neurospora spp.) may be used as host cells within the present invention. Suitable yeast vectors for use in the present invention include YRp7 (Struhl et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76:1035-1039, 1978), YEp13 (Broach et al., Gene 8:121-133, 1979), POT vectors (Kawasaki et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,373, which is incorporated by reference herein), pJDB249 and pJDB219 (Beggs, Nature 275:104-108, 1978) and derivatives thereof. Such vectors will generally include a selectable marker, which may be one of any number of genes that exhibit a dominant phenotype for which a phenotypic assay exists to enable transformants to be selected. Preferred selectable markers are those that complement host cell auxotrophy, provide antibiotic resistance or enable a cell to utilize specific carbon sources, and include LEU2 (Broach et al., ibid.), URA3 (Botstein et al., Gene 8:17, 1979), HIS3 (Struhl et al., ibid.) or POT1 (Kawasaki et al., ibid.). Another suitable selectable marker is the CAT gene, which confers chloramphenicol resistance on yeast cells.

Additional vectors, promoters and terminators for use in expressing the receptor of the invention in yeast are well known in the art and are reviewed by, for example, Emr, Meth. Enzymol. 185:231-279, (1990), incorporated herein by reference. The receptors of the invention may be expressed in Aspergillus spp. (McKnight and Upshall, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,349, which is incorporated herein by reference). Useful promoters include those derived from Aspergillus nidulans glycolytic genes, such as the ADH3 promoter (McKnight et al., EMBO J. 4:2093-2099, 1985) and the tpiA promoter. An example of a suitable terminator is the ADH3 terminator (McKnight et al., ibid.). Techniques for transforming fungi are well known in the literature, and have been described, for instance by Beggs (ibid.), Hinnen et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75:1929-1933, 1978), Yelton et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:1740-1747, 1984), and Russell (Nature 301:167-169, 1983) each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

A variety of higher eukaryotic cells may serve as host cells for expression of the Glu_(G) R, although not all cell lines will be capable of functional coupling of the receptor to the cell's second messenger systems. Cultured mammalian cells, such as BHK, CHO, Y1 (Shapiro et al., TIPS Suppl. 43-46 (1989)), NG108-15 (Dawson et al., Neuroscience Approached Through Cell Culture, Vol. 2, pages 89-114 (1989)), N1E-115 (Liles et al., J. Biol. Chem. 261:5307-5313 (1986)), PC 12 and COS-1 (ATCC CRL 1650) are preferred. Preferred BHK cell lines are the tk⁻ ts13 BHK cell line (Waechter and Baserga, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79:1106-1110 (1982)) and the BHK 570 cell line (deposited with the American Type Culture Collection, 12301 Parklawn Dr., Rockville, Md. under accession number CRL 10314). A tk⁻ BHK cell line is available from the ATCC under accession number CRL 1632.

Mammalian expression vectors for use in carrying out the present invention will include a promoter capable of directing the transcription of a cloned gene or cDNA. Preferred promoters include viral promoters and cellular promoters. Viral promoters include the immediate early cytomegalovirus promoter (Boshart et al., Cell 41:521-530, 1985) and the SV40 promoter (Subramani et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1:854-864, 1981). Cellular promoters include the mouse metallothionein-1 promoter (Palmiter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,821), a mouse V_(k) promoter (Bergman et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:7041-7045, 1983; Grant et al., Nuc. Acids Res. 15:5496, 1987) and a mouse V_(H) promoter (Loh et al., Cell 33:85-93, 1983). A particularly preferred promoter is the major late promoter from Adenovirus 2 (Kaufman and Sharp, Mol. Cell. Biol. 2:1304-13199, 1982). Such expression vectors may also contain a set of RNA splice sites located downstream from the promoter and upstream from the DNA sequence encoding the peptide or protein of interest. Preferred RNA splice sites may be obtained from adenovirus and/or immunoglobulin genes.

Also contained in the expression vectors is a polyadenylation signal located downstream of the coding sequence of interest. Polyadenylation signals include the early or late polyadenylation signals from SV40 (Kaufman and Sharp, ibid.), the polyadenylation signal from the Adenovirus 5 E1B region and the human growth hormone gene terminator (DeNoto et al., Nuc. Acids Res. 9:3719-3730, 1981). The expression vectors may include a noncoding viral leader sequence, such as the Adenovirus 2 tripartite leader, located between the promoter and the RNA splice sites. Preferred vectors may also include enhancer sequences, such as the SV40 enhancer and the mouse μ enhancer (Gillies, Cell 33:717-728, 1983). Expression vectors may also include sequences encoding the adenovirus VA RNAs.

Cloned DNA sequences may be introduced into cultured mammalian cells by, for example, calcium phosphate-mediated transfection (Wigler et al., Cell 14:725, 1978; Corsaro and Pearson, Somatic Cell Genetics 7:603, 1981; Graham and Van der Eb, Virology 52:456, 1973.) Other techniques for introducing cloned DNA sequences into mammalian cells, such as electroporation (Neumann et al., EMBO J. 1:841-845, 1982), may also be used. In order to identify cells that have integrated the cloned DNA, a selectable marker is generally introduced into the cells along with the gene or cDNA of interest. Preferred selectable markers for use in cultured mammalian cells include genes that confer resistance to drugs, such as neomycin, hygromycin, and methotrexate. The selectable marker may be an amplifiable selectable marker. Preferred amplifiable selectable markers are the DHFR gene and the neomycin resistance gene. Selectable markers are reviewed by Thilly (Mammalian Cell Technology, Butterworth Publishers, Stoneham, MA, which is incorporated herein by reference). The choice of selectable markers is well within the level of ordinary skill in the art.

Selectable markers may be introduced into the cell on a separate plasmid at the same time as the gene of interest, or they may be introduced on the same plasmid. If on the same plasmid, the selectable marker and the gene of interest may be under the control of different promoters or the same promoter, the latter arrangement producing a dicistronic message. Constructs of this type are known in the art (for example, Levinson and Simonsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,339). It may also be advantageous to add additional DNA, known as "carrier DNA" to the mixture which is introduced into the cells.

Transfected mammalian cells are allowed to grow for a period of time, typically 1-2 days, to begin expressing the DNA sequence(s) of interest. Drug selection is then applied to select for growth of cells that are expressing the selectable marker in a stable fashion. Transfected cells may also be selected in the presence of antagonist to inhibit the activity of the receptor. Suitable antagonists in this context include D, L, 2-amino-3-phosphonopropionate. For cells that have been transfected with an amplifiable selectable marker the drug concentration may be increased in a stepwise manner to select for increased copy number of the cloned sequences, thereby increasing expression levels.

Promoters, terminators and methods suitable for introducing expression vectors encoding recombinant Glu_(G) R into plant, avian and insect cells are known in the art. The use of baculoviruses, for example, as vectors for expressing heterologous DNA sequences in insect cells has been reviewed by Atkinson et al. (Pestic. Sci. 28:215-224,1990). The use of Agrobacterium rhizogenes as vectors for expressing genes in plant cells has been reviewed by Sinkar et al. (J. Biosci. (Banglaore) 11:47-58, 1987).

Host cells containing DNA constructs of the present invention are then cultured to produce recombinant Glu_(G) R. The cells are cultured according to accepted methods in a culture medium containing nutrients required for growth of mammalian or other host cells. A variety of suitable media are known in the art and generally include a carbon source, a nitrogen source, essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and growth factors. The growth medium will generally select for cells containing the DNA construct by, for example, drug selection or deficiency in an essential nutrient which is complemented by the selectable marker on the DNA construct or co-transfected with the DNA construct.

The Glu_(G) R produced according to the present invention may be purified from the recombinant expression systems or other sources using purification protocols that employ techniques generally available to those skilled in the art. The most convenient sources for obtaining large quantities of Glu_(G) R are cells which express the recombinant receptor. However, other sources, such as tissues, particularly brain tissues of the cerebellum which contain Glu_(G) R may also be employed.

Purification may be achieved by conventional chemical purification means, such as liquid chromatography, lectin affinity chromatography, gradient centrifugation, and gel electrophoresis, among others. Methods of protein purification are known in the art (see generally, Scopes, R., Protein Purification, Springer-Verlag, N.Y. (1982), which is incorporated herein by reference) and may be applied to the purification of the Glu_(G) R and particularly the recombinantly produced Glu_(G) R described herein. In a preferred embodiment immunoaffinity chromatography is employed using antibodies directed against Glu_(G) R as herein described. In another method of purification, the recombinant gene encoding Glu_(G) R or portions thereof can be modified at the amino terminus, just behind a signal peptide, with a sequence coding for a small hydrophilic peptide, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,703,004 and 4,782,137, incorporated herein by reference. Specific antibodies for the peptide facilitate rapid purification of Glu_(G) R, and the short peptide can then be removed with enterokinase.

Thus, as discussed above, the present invention provides Glu_(G) R isolated from its natural cellular environment, substantially free of other G protein coupled glutamate receptors. Purified Glu_(G) R is also provided. Substantially pure Glu_(G) R of at least about 50% is preferred, at least about 70-80% more preferred, and 95-99% or more homogeneity most preferred, particularly for pharmaceutical uses. Once purified, partially or to homogeneity, as desired, the recombinant Glu_(G) R or native Glu_(G) R may then be used to generate antibodies, in assay procedures, etc.

In another aspect, the invention concerns polypeptides and fragments of Glu_(G) R. Polypeptides and fragments of Glu_(G) R may be isolated from recombinant expression systems or may be synthesized by the solid phase method of Merrifield, Fed. Proc. 21:412 (1962), Merrifield, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85:2149 (1963), or Barany and Merrifield, in The Peptides, vol. 2, pp. 1-284 (1979) Academic Press, N.Y., each of which are incorporated herein by reference, or by use of an automated peptide synthesizer. By "polypeptides" is meant a sequence of at least about 3 amino acids, typically 6 or more, up to 100-200 amino acids or more, including entire proteins. For example, the portion(s) of Glu_(G) R protein which binds ligand may be identified by a variety of methods, such as by treating purified receptor with a protease or a chemical agent to fragment it and determine which fragment is able to bind to labeled glutamate in a ligand blot. Polypeptides may then be synthesized and used as antigen, to inhibit ligand-Glu_(G) R interaction, etc. It should be understood that as used herein, reference to Glu_(G) R is meant to include the protein, polypeptides, and fragments thereof unless the context indicates otherwise.

In another aspect, the invention provides means for regulating the Glu_(G) R-ligand interaction, and thus treating, therapeutically and/or prophylactically, a disorder which can be linked directly or indirectly to Glu_(G) R or to its ligands, such as glutamate and other endogenous excitatory amino acids. By virtue of having the receptor of the invention, agonists or antagonists may be identified which stimulate or inhibit the interaction of ligand with Glu_(G) R. With either agonists or antagonists the metabolism and reactivity of cells which express the receptor are controlled, thereby providing a means to abate or in some instances prevent the disease of interest.

Thus, the invention provides screening procedures for identifying agonists or antagonists of events mediated by the ligand-Glu_(G) R interaction. Such screening assays may employ a wide variety of formats, depending to some extent on which aspect of the ligand/receptor/G protein interaction is targeted. For example, such assays may be designed to identify compounds which bind to the receptor and thereby block or inhibit interaction of the receptor with the ligand. Other assays can be designed to identify compounds which can substitute for ligand and therefore stimulate Glu_(G) R-mediated intracellular pathways. Yet other assays can be used to identify compounds which inhibit or facilitate the association of Glu_(G) R to G protein and thereby mediate the cellular response to Glu_(G) R ligand.

In one functional screening assay, the initiation of fertilization activation events are monitored in eggs which have been injected with, e.g., mRNA which codes for Glu_(G) R and subsequently exposed to selected compounds which are being screened, in conjunction with or apart from an appropriate ligand. See generally, Kline et al., Science 241:464-467 (1988), incorporated herein by reference.

Another screening assay is based on the use of mammalian cell lines which express Glu_(G) R functionally coupled to a mammalian G protein. In this assay, compounds are screened for their relative affinity as receptor agonists or antagonists by comparing the relative receptor occupancy to the extent of ligand induced stimulation or inhibition of second messenger metabolism. For example, activation of phospholipase C leads to increased inositol monophosphate metabolism. Means for measuring inositol monophosphate metabolism are generally described in Subers and Nathanson, J. Mol. Cell, Cardiol. 20:131-140 (1988), incorporated herein by reference.

The screening procedure can be used to identify reagents such as antibodies which specifically bind to the receptor and substantially affect its interaction with ligand, for example. The antibodies may be monoclonal or polyclonal, in the form of antiserum or monospecific antibodies, such as purified antiserum or monoclonal antibodies or mixtures thereof. For administration to humans, e.g., as a component of a composition for in vivo diagnosis or imaging, the antibodies are preferably substantially human to minimize immunogenicity and are in substantially pure form. By substantially human is meant generally containing at least about 70% human antibody sequence, preferably at least about 80% human, and most preferably at least about 90-95% or more of a human antibody sequence to minimize immunogenicity in humans.

Antibodies which bind Glu_(G) R may be produced by a variety of means. The production of non-human antisera or monoclonal antibodies, e.g., murine, lagomorpha, equine, etc. is well known and may be accomplished by, for example, immunizing the animal with the receptor molecule or a preparation containing a desired portion of the receptor molecule, such as that domain or domains which contributes to ligand binding. For the production of monoclonal antibodies, antibody producing cells obtained from immunized animals are immortalized and screened, or screened first for the production of antibody which binds to the receptor protein and then immortalized. As the generation of human monoclonal antibodies to human Glu_(G) R antigen may be difficult with conventional techniques, it may be desirable to transfer antigen binding regions of the non-human antibodies, e.g. the F(ab')₂ or hypervariable regions, to human constant regions (Fc) or framework regions by recombinant DNA techniques to produce substantially human molecules. Such methods are generally known in the art and are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,397, EP publications 173,494 and 239,400, which are incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively, one may isolate DNA sequences which code for a human monoclonal antibody or portions thereof that specifically bind to the human receptor protein by screening a DNA library from human B cells according to the general protocol outlined by Huse et al., Science 246:1275-1281 (1989), incorporated herein by reference, and then cloning and amplifying the sequences which encode the antibody (or binding fragment) of the desired specificity.

In other embodiments, the invention provides screening assays conducted in vitro with cells which express the receptor. For example, the DNA which encodes the receptor or selected portions thereof may be transfected into an established cell line, e.g., a mammalian cell line such as BHK or CHO, using procedures known in the art (see, e.g., Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning. A Laboratory Manual, 2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989, which is incorporated herein by reference). The receptor is then expressed by the cultured cells, and selected agents are screened for the desired effect on the cell, separately or in conjunction with an appropriate ligand such as glutamate or quisqualate. Means for amplifying nucleic acid sequences which may be employed to amplify sequences encoding the receptor or portions thereof are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195 and 4,683,202, incorporated herein by reference.

In yet another aspect, the screening assays provided by the invention relate to transgenic mammals whose germ cells and somatic cells contain a nucleotide sequence encoding Glu_(G) R protein or a selected portion of the receptor which, e.g., binds ligand, GTP binding protein, or the like. There are several means by which a sequence encoding, for example, the human Glu_(G) R may be introduced into a non-human mammalian embryo, some of which are described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,866, Jaenisch, Science 240--1468-1474 (1988) and Westphal et al., Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 5:181-196 (1989), which are incorporated herein by reference. The animal's cells then express the receptor and thus may be used as a convenient model for testing or screening selected agonists or antagonists.

In another aspect the invention concerns diagnostic methods and compositions. By means of having the Glu_(G) R molecule and antibodies thereto, a variety of diagnostic assays are provided. For example, with antibodies, including monoclonal antibodies, to Glu_(G) R, the presence and/or concentration of receptor in selected cells or tissues in an individual or culture of interest may be determined. These assays can be used in the diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases such as, for example, cerebral ischemia, Parkinsons, senile dementia and other cognitive disorders, Huntington's chorea, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, emesis, migraine, and others.

Numerous types of immunoassays are available and are known to those skilled in the art, e.g., competitive assays, sandwich assays, and the like, as generally described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,642,285; 4,376,110; 4,016,043; 3,879,262; 3,852,157; 3,850,752; 3,839,153; 3,791,932; and Harlow and Lane, Antibodies, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Publications, N.Y. (1988), each incorporated by reference herein. In one assay format Glu_(G) R is identified and/or quantified by using labeled antibodies, preferably monoclonal antibodies which are reacted with brain tissues, e.g., cortex, striatum, hippocampus, cerebellum, and determining the specific binding thereto, the assay typically being performed under conditions conducive to immune complex formation. Unlabeled primary antibody can be used in combination with labels that are reactive with primary antibody to detect the receptor. For example, the primary antibody may be detected indirectly by a labeled secondary antibody made to specifically detect the primary antibody. Alternatively, the anti-Glu_(G) R antibody can be directly labeled. A wide variety of labels may be employed, such as radionuclides, particles (e.g., gold, ferritin, magnetic particles, red blood cells), fluorophores, chemiluminescers, enzymes, enzyme substrates, enzyme cofactors, enzyme inhibitors, ligands (particularly haptens), etc.

The Glu_(G) R DNA may be directly detected in cells with a labeled Glu_(G) R DNA or synthetic oligonucleotide probe in a hybridization procedure similar to the Southern or dot blot. Also, the polymerase chain reaction (Saiki et al., Science 239:487 (1988), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,195) may be used to amplify DNA sequences, which are subsequently detected by their characteristic size on agarose gels, Southern blot of these gels using Glu_(G) R DNA or a oligonucleotide probe, or a dot blot using similar probes. The probes may comprise from about 14 nucleotides to about 25 or more nucleotides, preferably, 40 to 60 nucleotides, and in some instances a substantial portion or even the entire cDNA of Glu_(G) R may be used. The probes are labeled with a with a detectable signal, such as an enzyme, biotin, a radionuclide, fluorophore, chemiluminescer, paramagnetic particle, etc.

Kits can also be supplied for use with the receptor of the subject invention in the detection of the presence of the receptor or antibodies thereto, as might be desired in the case of autoimmune disease. Thus, antibodies to Glu_(G) R, preferably monospecific antibodies such as monoclonal antibodies, or compositions of the receptor may be provided, usually in lyophilized form in a container, either segregated or in conjunction with additional reagents, such as anti-antibodies, labels, gene probes, polymerase chain reaction primers and polymerase, and the like.

The following examples are offered by way of illustration, not by limitation.

EXAMPLE I

Preparation of Glu_(G) R Enriched mRNA

Total RNA was prepared from the cerebellum of rats using guanidine isothiocyanate (Chirgwin et al. Biochemistry 18:52-94 (1979)) and CsCl centrifugation. Poly (A)+ RNA was isolated using oligo d(T) cellulose chromatography. After 2 rounds of chromatography on oligo d(T) cellulose the RNA (800 μg) was divided into two aliquots and layered over 10-40% linear sucrose gradients in tubes for an SW 28 rotor. The gradients were centrifuged for 28 hours at 25,000 rpm to pellet RNA greater than 4 kb in size. The enriched RNA was injected into frog oocytes and assayed for the presence of the Glu_(G) R.

Injection of Oocytes and Voltage-Clamp Assay of Glu_(G) R Activity

Oocytes were prepared from ovarian lobes that were surgically removed from anesthetized Xenopus females. The ovarian lobes were washed, pulled apart into small clumps and dissociated by treatment with collagenase for 2-3 hours at 20° C. with constant, gentle agitation. The dissociation and defolicularization of the oocytes is completed manually after removal of the collagenase. Oocytes that were judged healthy and greater than 1 mm in diameter were transferred to a 50 mm sterile tissue culture dish and incubated in sterile, antibiotic-supplemented Barth's medium (88 mM NaCl, 1 mM KCl, 0.82 mM MgSO₄, 0.33 mM Ca(NO₃)₂, 0.41 mM CaCl₂, 2.4 mM NaHCO₃, 10 mM HEPES, pH 7.4, 0.1 mg/ml gentamicin, 0.01 mg/ml penicillin, 0.01 mg/ml streptomycin, 0.5 mM theophylline, and 2.5 mM Na pyruvate) at 19° C.

Injection pipettes were pulled from hard glass tubing (Drummond) on a modified 700C Kopf vertical puller. The tip was broken and bevelled using a List Medical microforge. Tip diameters of the pipettes ranged from 20-30 mM. Injection pipettes were made RNase free by heating to 285° C. overnight.

Following overnight incubation, healthy oocytes were selected for injection. RNA, which was stored at -70° C. in DEPC-treated water, was thawed and centrifuged at 15,000 g for five minutes. Injection was performed using a modified pipetting device (Drummond). After injection, the oocytes were incubated in fresh, sterile Barth's medium which was changed daily, and unhealthy oocytes were removed.

Voltage-clamp assays were carried out on injected oocytes which were each placed in a small chamber of approximately 500 μl in volume and which was continuously perfused with standard frog Ringer's (115 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM KCl, 1.8 mM CaCl₂, 10 mM HEPES, pH 7.2) at 1-6 ml/min. The oocyte was impaled with two glass microelectrodes for recording which, when filled with 3 M KCl, had a tip resistance of 0.5 to 7.0 megaohms. One of the two electrodes was connected to a differential amplifier via a silver/silver chloride half cell. The bath potential was measured by connecting the other side of the differential amplifier to the bath via a silver/silver chloride pellet and a Ringer/Agar bridge. A low noise, high compliance, voltage-clamp system (NPI) was used to control the membrane potential and to measure membrane current. The oocyte membrane potential was maintained at -60 mV (inside cell negative). One millimolar glutamate (Sigma), 100 μM quisqualate (Sigma), 1 mM carbamylcholine (Sigma), and the other drugs used in this assay were applied by switching the perfusing medium to a medium containing a drug for approximately three minutes, and the membrane current was recorded on a chart recorder (Linear Instruments).

After impaling the oocyte with the two microelectrodes, and imposing the voltage-clamp, the membrane current (the holding current) gradually declines to a steady state over a period of several minutes. When the holding current stabilizes, so that the chart record is horizontal, the drug is applied for one to three minutes. An oocyte is judged to have a positive response if a rapid inward current spike (downward deflection on the chart), followed by slow current oscillations of decreasing magnitude, is observed. Our lower limit of detection depended on the steadiness of the holding current prior to drug application, but was in the range of 5-10 nA.

Construction of pVEGT'

To permit transcription of cloned cDNA without prior endonuclease digestion, bacteriophage T7 transcriptional terminators were added to a cloning vector. Plasmid pVEGT' is described in copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/581,342, which is incorporated by reference herein. The sequence of the putative T7 RNA transcription terminator, which lies between gene 10 and gene 11 of bacteriophage T7, is disclosed by Dunn and Studier (J. Mol. Biol. 166:477-536 (1983)). As shown in FIG. 5, four synthetic oligonucleotides were designed from this sequence and ligated into the vector pGEM-1 (obtained from Promega Biotec, Madison, Wis.), a plasmid containing a bacterial origin of replication, ampicillin resistance gene, and the T7 promoter adjacent to a multiple cloning site. Terminal phosphates were added to the 5' ends of oligonucleotides ZC776 and ZC777 (Sequence ID Nos. 4 and 5) with T4 polynucleotide kinase and ATP, under standard conditions (Maniatis et al. ibid). (The sequences of these and other oligonucleotides referred to herein are shown in Table 1.) After the incubation, the kinase was heat killed at 65° C. for 10 min. Twenty-five nanograms of oligonucleotide ZC775 (Sequence ID Number 3) and 25 ng of oligonucleotide ZC776 (Sequence ID Number 4) were annealed by incubation at 65° C. for 15 minutes, then allowed to cool to room temperature in 500 ml of water. Oligonucleotides ZC777 and ZC778 (Sequence ID Nos. 5 and 6) were similarly annealed. The annealed oligonucleotides were stored at -20° C. until use. The vector pGEM-1 was digested with Pst I and Hind III, and the linearized vector DNA was purified by agarose gel electrophoresis. The synthetic T7 terminator (annealed oligonucleotides ZC775, ZC776, ZC777 and ZC778; Sequence ID Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6) was then cloned into pGEM-1. Twenty-five nanograms of vector plus an equal molar amount of each of the annealed oligonucleotides ZC775/ZC776 (Sequence ID Nos. 3 and 4) and ZC777/ZC778 (Sequence ID Nos. 5 and 6) were combined in a 10 μl reaction mix. After an overnight ligation at 14° C., the DNA was transformed into competent E. coli JM83 cells, and the transformed cells were selected for ampicillin resistance. Plasmid DNA was prepared from selected transformants by the alkaline lysis procedure (Birnboim and Doly, Nuc. Acids Res. 7:1513-1523 (1979)). A portion of the DNA from these samples was cut with Pst I and Hind III and analyzed on a 4% polyacrylamide gel to identify clones that released an 80 bp Pst I-Hind III fragment. Other diagnostic cuts, such as Eco RI and Not I, were also made. One of the isolates, designated pGEMT, was shown by restriction analysis to contain the T7 terminator fragment.

                                      TABLE 1                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Oligonucleotide Sequences (5'-3')                                              __________________________________________________________________________     ZC775 (Sequence ID Number 3):                                                  GCT AGC ATA ACC CCT TGG GGC CTC TAA ACG GGT CT                                 ZC776 (Sequence ID Number 4):                                                  CTC AAG ACC CGT TTA GAG GCC CCA AGG GGT TAT GCT AGC TGC A                      ZC777 (Sequence ID Number 5):                                                  TGA GGG GTT TTT TGC TGA AAG GAG GAA CTA TGC GGC CGC A                          ZC778 (Sequence ID Number 6):                                                  AGC TTG CGG CCG CAT AGT TCC TCC TTT CAG CAA AAA ACC C                          ZC1751 (Sequence ID Number 7):                                                 AAT TCT GTG CTC TGT CAA G                                                      ZC1752 (Sequence ID Number 8):                                                 GAT CCT TGA CAG AGC ACA G                                                      ZC2063 (Sequence ID Number 9):                                                 GAT CCA AAC TAG TAA AAG AGC T                                                  ZC2064 (Sequence ID Number 10):                                                CTT TTA CTA GTT TG                                                             ZC2938 (Sequence ID Number 11):                                                GAC AGA GCA CAG ATT CAC TAG TGA GCT CTT TTT TTT TTT TTT T                      ZC3015 (Sequence ID Number 12):                                                TTC CAT GGC ACC GTC AAG GCT                                                    ZC3016 (Sequence ID Number 13):                                                AGT GAT GGC ATG GAC TGT GGT                                                    ZC3652 (Sequence ID Number 14):                                                ACA TGC ACC ATG CTC TGT GT                                                     ZC3654 (Sequence ID Number 15):                                                AGT GAT GGC ATG GAC TGT GGT                                                    __________________________________________________________________________

The native T7 terminator from plasmid pAR2529 (Rosenberg et al., Gene 56:125-135 (1987)) was added to plasmid pGEMT. Plasmid pGEMT was digested with Bam HI and plasmid pAR2529 was digested with Bam HI and Bgl II (FIG. 1). The Bam HI-Bgl II terminator fragment from pAR2529 was purified by agarose gel electrophoresis. The terminator fragment was ligated to Bam HI digested pGEMT, and the DNA was transformed into competent E. coli LM1035 cells. Colonies that were ampicillin resistant were inoculated into 5 ml cultures for overnight growth. Plasmid DNA prepared by the alkaline lysis procedure was screened for proper terminator orientation by Bam HI-Sal I digestion and electrophoresis on an 8% polyacrylamide gel. A clone that contained the terminator in the correct orientation, as evidenced by the presence of a 130 bp Bam HI-Sal I fragment, was chosen and named pGEMTT (FIG. 1).

To allow pGEMTT to be packaged as single-stranded DNA in the presence of M13 phage proteins, the M13 intergenic region from pUC382 (similar to pUC118 and 119 as disclosed by Vieira and Messing, Methods Enzymol. 153:3-11 (1987)) was added to pGEMTT (FIG. 1). Plasmid pGEMTT was digested with Fsp I and Nar I, and the fragment containing the T7 promoter and transcription terminator was purified. Plasmid pUC382 was digested with Fsp I and Nar I, and the fragment encoding the ampicillin resistance gene and the M13 intergenic region was gel purified. These fragments were then ligated together in the presence of T4 DNA ligase. The ligated DNA was transformed into competent E. coli LM1035 cells. Plasmid DNA from twelve ampicillin-resistant colonies was prepared by the alkaline lysis method, and the DNA was screened by digestion with Ava I. The appropriate construction gave two bands, one of 2430 bp and another of 709 bp. One such isolate was chosen and named pVEG. Synthetic oligonucleotides encoding the prime sequence were added to pVEG between the Bam HI and Eco RI sites (FIG. 1). Plasmid pVEG was digested with Bam HI and Eco RI and the vector fragment was gel purified. Ninety-six nanograms each of oligonucleotides ZC1751 and ZC1752 (Sequence ID Nos. 7 and 8) were annealed in 4.5 μl of 10 mM Tris pH 7.5, 20 mM MgCl₂ and 10 mM NaCl at 65° C. for 20 minutes, then the mixture was cooled to room temperature over a period of 30 minutes. The annealed oligonucleotides were ligated to the pVEG vector fragment with T4 DNA ligase and then transformed into competent E. coli LM1035 cells. After growing overnight to develop the colonies, a filter lift was taken of the colonies on the agar plate. The filter was probed with ³² P-labeled oligonucleotide ZC1751 (Sequence ID Number 7). All of the colonies were positive. Plasmid DNA was prepared from cultures grown from 12 of the colonies. The plasmid DNA was screened by digestion with Sst I to verify the absence of the Sst I site between the Eco RI and Bam HI sites of pVEG. All 12 of the plasmid DNAs were negative for Sst I digestion. One of these 12 isolates was chosen and named pVEG'.

A polyadenylate sequence derived from an Aspergillus alcohol dehydrogenase cDNA was added to pVEG. As shown in FIG. 1, plasmid pM098 (disclosed in published European patent application EP 272,277 and deposited with American Type Culture Collection under accession number 53428) was digested with Dra I and Bam HI, and the approximately 150 bp poly(A) fragment was purified by agarose gel electrophoresis. This fragment contained mostly poly(A) sequence with very little flanking cDNA. To clone the poly(A) cDNA fragment into pVEG, pVEG was digested with Bam HI and Sma I, and the 3.4 kb vector fragment was gel purified. The vector and poly(A) fragments were ligated together with T4 DNA ligase to produce vector pVEGT (FIG. 1).

Synthetic oligonucleotides encoding the prime sequence were added to pVEGT. To accomplish this, pVEGT was digested with Not I and Sst I, and the 370 bp fragment containing the poly(A) sequence and the two T7 transcriptional terminators was purified by agarose gel electrophoresis. Plasmid pVEG' was digested with Not I and Bam HI, and the 3.2 kb vector fragment was gel-purified. Two oligonucleotides (ZC2063 and ZC2064; Sequence ID Nos. 9 and 10) that formed, when annealed, a Bam HI-Sst I adapter were synthesized. The two oligonucleotides were individually kinased and annealed, and ligated with the linearized vector and the poly(A)-terminator fragment. The resultant vector, designated pVEGT' (FIG. 1), contained a T7 RNA transcription promoter, an Eco RI cloning site flanked by the prime sequence, a poly(A) tract, and two T7 RNA polymerase terminators.

Construction of cDNA Library from Rat Cerebellum Poly (A)+ RNA

Because there was evidence suggesting that the Glu_(G) R was encoded a very large mRNA of 7 kb (Fong, Davidson, and Lester, Synapse 2:657 (1988)) and because full length cDNA encompassing the coding sequence is required for functional cloning of cDNA, measures were taken to optimize for synthesis of large cDNA. A novel method of cDNA synthesis was developed which yielded large full length cDNA. This was evident by demonstration that full length 7.5 kb cDNA could be synthesized from a model 7.5 kb mRNA and that large full length cDNA were present in a library constructed from poly (A)+ RNA as demonstrated by Southern blot analysis. In addition, all enzymes which were important in this method were pretested and selected from a large number of lots of enzymes available from commercial suppliers. Once a satisfactory lot was identified, a large amount of the enzyme was purchased and the enzyme was stored at -70° C. until used. Once used, the enzyme was stored at -20° C. for a few months and then discarded. Different "lots" of enzymes from commercial suppliers, including lots of Superscript reverse transcriptase (BRL), E. coli DNA polymerase I (Amersham) and Mung bean nuclease (NEB), which were used in the cDNA synthesis, were screened for quality in test synthesis assays. Superscript reverse transcriptase lots were assayed for the ability to synthesize unit length (7.5 kb) first strand cDNA from 7.5 kb RNA (BRL) control. Conditions for first strand synthesis with Superscript reverse transcriptase lots were prepared as described below. Radiolabeled first strand cDNA was analyzed by alkaline agarose gel electrophoresis. Superscript lots capable of producing unit length, 7.5 kb cDNA were selected for use.

E. coli DNA polymerase I lots were assayed for the ability to produce, by hairpin DNA formation, full-length second strand cDNA from the 7.5 kb unit-length first strand cDNA. The second strand cDNA syntheses were carried out as described below. The quality of the second strand syntheses were assessed by alkaline agarose electrophoresis of the radiolabeled product. DNA polymerase I lots capable of producing 15 kb second strand DNA from the 7.5 kb unit length first strand cDNA were selected for use.

Mung bean nuclease lots were tested for the ability to clip the hairpin DNA formed during second strand synthesis without degrading the cDNA. In addition, varying concentrations of enzyme were added to determine the optimum enzyme concentration for the conditions set forth below. The reactions were assessed by alkaline agarose electrophoresis. Lots and concentrations resulting in the production of 7.5 kb unit length cDNA were selected for use.

Total RNA was prepared from rat cerebella using guanidine isothiocyanate (Chirgwin et al. Biochemistry 18:52-94 1979) and CsCl centrifugation (Gilsin et al. Biochemistry 13:2633-2637 1974). Poly(A)+RNA was selected from the total RNA using oligo d(T) cellulose chromatography (Aviv and Leder, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 69:1408 (1972)).

First strand cDNA was synthesized from one time poly d(T)-selected cerebellum poly(A)+ RNA in two separate reactions. One reaction, containing radiolabeled dATP, was used to assess the quality of first strand synthesis. The second reaction was carried out in the absence of radiolabeled dATP and was used, in part, to assess the quality of second strand synthesis. Superscript reverse transcriptase (BRL) was used specifically as described below. A 2.5× reaction mix was prepared at room temperature by mixing, in order, 10 μl of 5× reverse transcriptase buffer (BRL; 250 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.3, 375 mM KCl, and 15 mM MgCl₂), 2.5 μl 200 mM dithiothreitol (made fresh or stored in aliquots at -70° C.) and 2.5 μl of a deoxynucleotide triphosphate solution containing 10 mM each of dATP, dGTP, dTTP and 5-methyl dCTP (Pharmacia). The reaction mix was aliquoted into two tubes of 7.5 μl each. To the first tube, 1.3 μl of 10 μCi/μl α³² P-dATP (Amersham) was added and 1.3 μl of water was added to the second reaction tube. Seven microliters from each tube was transferred to reaction tubes. Fourteen microliters of a solution containing 10 μg of cerebellum poly (A)+ RNA diluted in 14 μl of 5 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 50 μM EDTA was mixed with 2 μl of 1 μg/μl first strand primer, ZC2938 (Table 1; Sequence ID No. 11), and the primer was annealed to the RNA by heating the mixture to 65° C. for 4 minutes, followed by chilling in ice water. Eight microliters of the RNA-primer mixture was added to each of the two reaction tubes followed by 5 μl of 200 U/μl Superscript reverse transcriptase (BRL). The reactions were mixed gently, and the tubes were incubated at 45° C. for 30 minutes. After incubation, 80 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA was added to each tube, the samples were vortexed and centrifuged briefly. Three microliters of each reaction was removed to determine total counts and TCA precipitable counts (incorporated counts). Two microliters of each sample was analyzed by alkaline gel electrophoresis to assess the quality of first strand synthesis. The remainder of each sample was ethanol precipitated. The nucleic acids were pelleted by centrifugation, washed with 80% ethanol and air dried for ten minutes. The first strand synthesis yielded 1.4 μg of cerebellum cDNA or a 28% conversion of RNA into DNA.

Second strand cDNA synthesis was performed on the RNA-DNA hybrid from the first strand reactions under conditions which encouraged first strand priming of second strand synthesis resulting in DNA hairpin formation. The nucleic acid pellets containing the first strand cDNA were resuspended in 71 μl of water. To assess the quality of second strand synthesis, α³² P-dATP was added to the unlabeled first strand cDNA. To encourage formation of the hairpin structure, all reagents except the enzymes were brought to room temperature, and the reaction mixtures were set up at room temperature. (Alternatively, the reagents can be on ice and the reaction mixture set up at room temperature and allowed to equilibrate at room temperature for a short time prior to incubation at 16° C.) Two reaction tubes were set up for each synthesis. One reaction tube contained the unlabeled first strand cDNA and the other reaction tube contained the radiolabeled first strand cDNA. To each reaction tube, 20 μl of 5× second strand buffer (100 mM Tris, pH 7.4, 450 mM KCl, 23 mM MgCl₂, 50 mM (NH₄)₂ SO₄), 3 μl of beta-NAD and 1 μl of a deoxynucleotide triphosphate solution containing 10 mM each of dATP, dGTP, dTTP and dCTP (Pharmacia), 1 μl α³² P-dATP or 1 μl of water (the radiolabeled dATP was added to the tube containing the unlabeled first strand cDNA), 0.6 μl of 7 U/μl E. coli DNA ligase (Boehringer-Mannheim), 3.1 μl of 8 U/μl E. coli DNA polymerase I (Amersham), and 1 μl of 2 U/μl of RNase H (BRL). The reactions were incubated at 16° C. for 2 hours. After incubation, 3 μl was taken from each reaction tube to determine total and TCA precipitable counts. Two microliters of each sample was analyzed by alkaline gel electrophoresis to assess the quality of second strand synthesis by the presence of a band of approximately twice unit length. To the remainder of each sample, 2 μl of 2.5 μg/μl oyster glycogen, 5 μl of 0.5 M EDTA and 200 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA were added, the samples were phenol-chloroform extracted, and isopropanol precipitated. The nucleic acids were pelleted by centrifugation, washed with 80% ethanol and air dried. The yield of double stranded cDNA in each of the reactions was approximately 2 μg.

The single-stranded DNA in the hairpin structure was clipped using mung bean nuclease. Each second strand DNA sample was resuspended in 12 μl of water. Two microliters of 10× mung bean buffer (0.3 M NaOAC, pH 4.6, 3 M NaCl, 10 mM ZnSO₄), 2 μl of 10 mM dithiothreitol, 2 μl of 50% glycerol, and 2 μl of 10 U/μl mung bean nuclease (NEB, lot 7) were added to each tube, and the reactions were incubated at 30° C. for 30 minutes. After incubation, 80 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA was added to each tube, and 2 μl of each sample was subjected to alkaline gel electrophoresis to assess the cleavage of the second strand product into unit length cDNA. One hundred microliters of 1 M Tris-HCl pH 7.4 was added to each sample, and the samples were twice extracted with phenol-chloroform. Following the final phenol-chloroform extraction, the DNA was isopropanol precipitated. The DNA was pelleted by centrifugation, washed with 80% ethanol and air dried. Approximately 2 μg of DNA was obtained from each reaction.

The cDNA was blunt-ended with T4 DNA polymerase after the cDNA pellets were resuspended in 12 μl of water. Two microliters of 10x T4 DNA polymerase buffer (330 mM Tris-acetate, pH 7.9, 670 mM KAc, 100 mM MgAc, 1 mg/ml gelatin), 2 μl of 1 mM dNTP, 2 μl 50 mM dithiothreitol, and 2 μl of 1 U/μl T4 DNA polymerase (Boehringer-Mannheim) were added to each tube. After an incubation at 15° C. for 1 hour, 180 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA was added to each sample, and the samples were phenol-chloroform extracted followed by isopropanol precipitation. The cDNA was pelleted by centrifugation, washed with 80% ethanol and air dried. Eco RI adapters (Invitrogen, Cat. # N409-20) were ligated to the blunted cDNA after the DNA from each reaction was resuspended in 6.5 μl water.

The first strand primer encoded an Sst I cloning site to allow the cDNA to be directionally cloned into an expression vector. The cDNA was digested with Sst I followed by phenol-chloroform extraction and isopropanol precipitation. After digestion, the cDNA was electrophoresed in a 0.8% low melt agarose gel, and the cDNA over 4.2 kb was electroeluted using an Elutrap (Schleicher and Schuell, Keene, NH). The electroeluted cDNA in 500 μl of buffer was isopropanol precipitated and the cDNA was pelleted by centrifugation. The cDNA pellet was washed with 80% ethanol.

A cerebellum cDNA library was established by ligating the cDNA to the Eco RI-Sst I digested, agarose gel purified pVEGT'.

Ten sublibraries of one million clones each were constructed representing a library of ten million independent clones. To prepare each sublibrary, 80 ng of linearized vector were ligated to 40 ng of cDNA. After incubation at room temperature for 11 hours, 2.5 μg of oyster glycogen and 80 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA was added and the sample was phenol-chloroform extracted followed by ethanol precipitation. The DNA was pelleted by centrifugation, and the DNA pellet washed with 80% ethanol. After air drying, the DNA was resuspended in 3 μl of water. Thirty-seven microliters of electroporation-competent DH10B cells (BRL) was added to the DNA and electroporation was completed using a BioRad electroporation unit. After electroporation, 4 ml of SOC (Maniatis et al.) was added to the cells, and 400 μl was spread on each of 10-150 mm LB ampicillin plates. Each plate represented a sublibrary of 100,000 clones. After an overnight incubation, the cells were harvested by adding 10 ml of LB ampicillin media to each plate and scraping the cells into the media. Glycerol stocks and plasmid DNA were prepared from each plate. The library background (vector without insert) was established at about 15%.

Detection of Glu_(G) R Activity from the cDNA Library

The Xenopus oocyte efficiently translates exogenously added mRNA. Preliminary experiments were done using the mouse m1 muscarinic receptor cDNA (a G protein coupled receptor that can be detected by voltage-clamp) cloned into pVEGT'. Injection of RNA transcribed in vitro from increasing dilutions of the m1 template DNA indicated that m1 agonist induced activity could be detected for one clone in a pool size of 100,000. A cerebellum sublibrary was plated into ten pools of 100,000 unique clones.

The pools could also be replica plated onto a nitrocellulose filter and the original and replica allowed to grow for a few hours. The original plate is scraped to harvest all the colonies. Plasmid DNA is prepared and purified by cesium chloride gradient ultracentrifugation. The DNA from each pool is transcribed in vitro with T7 RNA polymerase in the presence of 7-methyl-G, the capped nucleotide, to increase translation efficiency. Template DNA transcription reactions are spiked with a dilution of two control genes cloned into pVEGT': the mouse m1 gene and a secreted version of the human placental alkaline phosphatase gene (SEAP; Tate et al., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol. 8:227-231 (1990), incorporated by reference herein). Transcription from the control genes would allow selection of oocytes that more efficiently translate the injected RNA, and a determination whether oocytes that are negative for the Glu_(G) R are true negatives, that is, still having a detectable m1 agonist-induced response.

Plasmid DNA prepared from each of the 10 pools of 100,000 clones, which in total represented one sublibrary of one million clones of the cerebellum cDNA library, was purified by cesium chloride gradient ultracentrifugation. The DNA was transcribed in vitro with T7 RNA polymerase (Pharmacia) in the presence of capped nucleotide (GpppG, Pharamcia). The presence of a poly (A) sequence and two T7 RNA polymerase terminators in pVEGT' resulted in RNA with a capped 5' end, the sequence of the cDNA insert, and 3' poly (A) tails. Capped RNA is believed necessary for efficient translation in oocytes (Noma et al. Nature 319:640 (1986)) and the poly (A) sequence has been shown to increase the synthesis of a protein in oocytes by more then 40 fold. The transcription reaction tubes were set up by adding 12 μl of 5x transcription buffer (Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif.), 3 μl each of 10 mM ATP, CTP, GTP, and UTP, 6 μl of 10 mM GpppG (Pharmacia), 6 μl of 1 mg/ml BSA, 3 μl of 200 mM DTT, 1.5 μl of 40 U/μl RNasin (ProMega Biotech, Madison, Wis.), 8.5 μl of water, 10 μl of cDNA containing 5 to 10 μg DNA, and 1 μl of 70 U/μl T7 RNA polymerase. After mixing, 10 μl of the reaction was transferred to a tube containing 0.5 μCi of α³² P-UTP to determine the total counts and counts incorporated into RNA. The samples were incubated at 37° C. for one hour. The cDNA in the unlabeled samples was degraded with the addition of 1 μl of 200 mM DTT, 2 μl of 30 U/μl DNase I, and 0.5 μl of 40 U/μl RNasin and the incubation was continued at 37° C. for 15 minutes. Forty microliters of water was added to the radiolabeled reactions, and 1 μl was removed from each sample and counted to determine total counts. The remainder of the labeled samples were ethanol precipitated. The samples were centrifuged to collect the RNA and the RNA pellets were counted to determine the counts incorporated into RNA. After the DNA degradation reaction in the unlabeled samples, 70 μl of 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA was added to each sample, and the samples were twice-extracted with phenol-chloroform followed by one chloroform extraction. The RNA was ethanol precipitated. After centrifugation to collect the RNA, the pellets were washed with 80% ethanol, followed by air drying for 10 minutes. A typical yield of the unlabeled RNA was 20 to 30 μg. The unlabeled RNA was resuspended at 2 μg/μl in diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC, Sigma) treated water and stored at -70° C.

Prior to microinjection into oocytes, the RNA samples were thawed and centrifuged in a microfuge for 5 minutes to remove any particles that might clog a microinjection pipet. After centrifugation, 80% of each sample was removed and split into two tubes.

The RNA from each of the 10 sublibraries were injected into oocytes as described above and translation was allowed for four days. Expression of Glu_(G) R activity was assessed by voltage-clamp assay as described above. One of the 10 sublibraries, Z93-1.9, produced a signal with administration of quisqualate to the oocyte.

Subdivision of the cDNA Library Pool to Obtain Pure Glu_(G) R Clone

The DNA pool (Z93-1.9) was subdivided by plating clones from the glycerol stock onto LB ampicillin plates. To determine the number of clones that should be plated for the subdivision of the 100,000 clone pool to identify a positive clone, the probability equation N=1n (1-P)/1n (1-f) (Maniatis et al., ibid.) was used, where P is the desired probability of including the clone of interest, f is the fraction of positive clones in the pool, and N is the number of clones to be plated to provide the given probability. For a probability of 99.8% for a pool size of 100,000 to contain one positive clone, 621,461 clones should be plated.

Forty-eight 150 mm LB ampicillin plates were plated with the glycerol stock representing the 100,000 positive pool, Z93-1.9, at a density of approximately 14,000 clones per plate to give a total of 670,000 clones. After an overnight incubation 37° C., the bacteria on each plate were harvested into 10 ml of Solution I (as described by Birnboim and Doly, Nuc. Acids Res. 7:1513 (1979)), incorporated by reference herein). A glycerol stock was prepared from a portion of the cells, and plasmid DNA was prepared from the remainder of the cells. Six pools of DNA representing eight of the LB ampicillin plates each were prepared by combining one tenth of the plasmid DNA from groups of eight plates into each pool. The plasmid DNA from these six pools was purified by cesium chloride gradient centrifugation. The DNA was transcribed into RNA as outlined above. Transcription of the parent pool Z95-1.9 was included as the positive control. Oocytes were injected with the RNA and voltage-clamp assays on the oocytes identified pool Z99-25-32 as positive for Glu_(G) R. Pool Z99-25-32 contained DNA prepared from plates 25 through 32.

Plasmid DNA from plates 25 to 32 were cesium chloride banded and transcribed into RNA as described above along with the positive parent pool Z99-25-32. Oocytes were injected with the RNA and voltage clamp assays, carried out as described above, identified pools Z104-25 and Z111-32 as being weakly positive, Z106-27 and Z109-30 as intermediately positive, and Z108-29 and Z110-31 as the most positive. The pool resulting in Z110-31 was chosen for further subdivision.

Identification of positive pools from the subdivision of the positive pool of 14,000 (Z110-31) from the glycerol stock was unsuccessful. Therefore, plasmid DNA prepared from the pool resulting in Z110-31 was electroporated into bacteria and plated on 60 plates at a density of 1,000 clones/plate. Plasmid DNA was prepared from the bacteria harvested from each plate. Aliquots of the plasmid DNA from each plate were mixed to make six pools representing ten plates each. The plasmid DNA was cesium chloride banded, and the RNA was transcribed as described above. RNA was transcribed from pools Z108-29, Z110-31, and a muscarinic receptor cDNA, m1, for use as positive controls. The RNA was injected into oocytes and voltage-clamp assays were carried out as described above. The assays identified pool Z133-21 to 30 as positive.

Plasmid DNA from plates 21 to 30 were cesium chloride banded and transcribed as described above. The transcribed RNA and the RNA from the parent pool Z133-21 to 30 were injected into oocytes and assayed as described above. The voltage-clamp assay identified pool Z142-22 as positive.

Identification of positive pools by the subdivision of the positive pool Z142-22 from a glycerol stock proved unsuccessful. Restriction analysis of plasmid DNA prepared from randomly selected clones from pools Z110-31 (the pool of 14,000) and Z142-22 (the pool of 1,000) indicated that 50% of pool Z110-31 and 68% of pool Z142-22 were clones without inserts.

To assess physical methods for enriching for the Glu_(G) R clone and to establish how many clones from pool Z142-22 needed to be assayed to include a Glu_(G) R clone, undigested plasmid DNA from pool Z142-22 was electrophoresed on an agarose gel. The super-coil band representing vector without insert was cut out and the remainder of the DNA was eluted from the gel. The DNA was then electroporated into bacteria cells, and plated at densities of 3,400, 6,900, and 13,800 clones per plate. The plates were replica plated and grown overnight. Plasmid DNA was prepared from the cells harvested from the replica of each plate. The plasmid DNA was transcribed, and the RNA was assayed in oocytes as described above. As a control, each pool contained the equivalent of one colony of m1 as an internal positive control. In addition, m1 was used as an external positive control. The voltage-clamp assays identified the DNA from the 6,900 clone pool (Z167-7) as positive.

The clones represented on the 6,900 clone plate that resulted in the positive pool Z167-7 were subdivided by replica plating the master plate onto a Biotrans nylon membrane (ICN flow, Costa Mesa, Calif.) on an LB ampicillin plate. The replica plate was incubated four hours at 37° C. After incubation, sub-pools were prepared by removing the membrane from the plate, taping the membrane to a sterile glass plate on a light box, and overlaying the membrane with a grid which divided the membrane into 100 sections. The sections of the grid and underlying membrane were then cut out with a razor blade that had been dipped in alcohol and flamed between each cut. Alcohol-treated, flamed forceps were used to transfer each membrane section to a test tube containing 12.5 ml of LB ampicillin media. The cultures containing the membrane sections were incubated overnight at 37° C. After incubation, 0.5 ml of each culture was mixed with 0.5 ml of 50% glycerol and stored at -70° C. to establish glycerol stocks of each sub-pool. Aliquots of the 100 cultures were pooled in a 10×10 matrix with samples (1) through (10) on the abscissa and samples (a) through (j) on the ordinate. For example, 1 ml of cultures (1) through (10) were added to tube 1 and 1 ml of cultures (1), (11), (21), (31), (41), (51), (61), (71), (81), and (91) were added to tube (a) and so on until 10 rows of 10 and 10 columns containing pools of 10 cultures each were completed. Ten microliters of an overnight culture containing m1-transformed bacteria was added to each pool as an internal control. Plasmid DNA was prepared from the 20 sub-pools, and the DNA was purified by cesium chloride gradient centrifugation. RNA was transcribed from the plasmid DNA and was assayed in oocytes as described above. Positive controls were the parent pool Z167-7 and pure m1 RNA. The voltage-clamp assays indicated that only pools Z175-1 and Z191-g were positive. Consulting the matrix,this indicated that the membrane section number (7) contained the Glu_(G) R clone.

To subdivide the clones contained in section (7), a piece of Biodyne A membrane was applied to the master plate containing section (7), the membrane extending beyond section (7) on each side by half the width of section (7). The membrane was removed from the plate, applied to a fresh LB ampicillin plate colony side up, and incubated overnight at 37° C. The membrane was subdivided as described above with the central region of the membrane, the actual section (7) area, divided into 9 small, equivalent-sized squares and the membrane on each side of section (7) was taken as four additional areas. Each membrane section was used to inoculate a 10 ml liquid culture. Bacteria transformed with the m1 clone were used as an internal control in each culture as described above. After overnight incubation at 37° C., plasmid DNA was prepared, and the DNA was purified by cesium chloride gradient centrifugation. RNA was transcribed and assayed in oocytes as described above using RNA from m1 and the parent pool number (7) as positive controls. Glu_(G) R activity was found in only pool Z203-7 corresponding to membrane section number (7).

Pool Z203-7 was subdivided by electroporating the plasmid DNA prepared from the membrane section number (7) into DH10B electroporation-competent cells. The transformants were plated at a density enabling individual colonies to be picked. Individuals clones were picked to a master plate and into 2 ml of LB ampicillin media. The cultures were incubated overnight, and plasmid DNA was prepared by the method essentially described by Holms and Quigley (Anal. Bioc. 114:193, (1981)). Restriction analysis suggested that the clones were grouped into 7 different classes of clones. Plasmid DNA, prepared from each class, representing fifty total clones were prepared, transcribed, and assayed in oocytes as described above. However, none of the clones were positive.

To screen for positive clones, electroporation-competent E. coli DH10B cells were electroporated with the DNA prepared from membrane section number (7) (Z203-7) and were plated at 180, 360, 900, and 1800 colonies per plate. The plates were incubated overnight, and replica plates were prepared as described above. Plasmid DNA prepared from each replica plate was combined with 1 to 1000 parts of m1 as an internal control. The DNA pools, the m1 clone and the parent pool Z203-7 were transcribed, and the RNA was assayed by oocyte injection. The first transcription and injection showed no positives, however, upon retranscription and reanalysis the 1800 clone pool (Z264-1800) was positive for Glu_(G) R activity.

To subdivide the positive pool of 1800 (Z264-1800), all of the colonies from the plate of 1800, 1528 in total, were each picked to two sets of 100 mm LB ampicillin agar plates on a 100 colony grid. After overnight growth, one set of the duplicate plates was designated as a master set and was placed at 4° C. The other set was replica plated to a third set of plates. After overnight incubation of these plates, the cells on the replica plates were harvested into media and plasmid DNA was prepared from the pooled cells. As described above, an internal m1 control was included in each DNA preparation. m1 DNA and the parent Z264-1800 DNA were used as external positive controls. Plasmid DNA prepared from the 16 plates was transcribed, and the RNA was assayed in oocytes as described above. One of the pools of 100 clones, Z256-I produced Glu_(G) R activity.

To identify which clone of the 100 clones from Z256-I produced the Glu_(G) R activity, a 10×10 matrix of the clones was constructed. A liquid culture of each clone was grown. One milliliter of each culture was added to each of two tubes representing the appropriate row and column of the 10×10 matrix. As described previously, plasmid DNA encoding m1 was used as an internal positive control. Plasmid DNA prepared from each tube, m1 DNA and DNA from the parent pool Z264-1800 were transcribed and assayed in oocytes as described above. Glu_(G) R activity was identified only in row (5) and column (e). Thus, the positive clone number 45 was identified as containing the Glu_(G) R activity.

To confirm the result, plasmid DNA from clone #45 was prepared, transcribed and assayed in oocytes as described above. The results of the assay indicated that clone #45 was capable of producing Glu_(G) R activity. FIG. 2 illustrates the data taken from voltage-clamp recordings at several stages in the subfractionation of the cerebellum library. Panel (a) is a recorded response to quisqualate of an oocyte previously injected with in vitro transcribed RNA from a rat cerebellum sublibrary of 100,000 independent colonies; panel (b) shows the response to quisqualate in a cell previously injected with RNA transcribed from a subfractionated pool of 14,000 colonies. The peak current was truncated by the chart recorder, but the actual peak current (estimated from a digital panel meter) was approximately 1300 nA. Panel (c) shows the response to quisqualate in a cell injected with pure Glu_(G) R RNA from clone 45-A. The amount of RNA injected per oocyte was approximately 100 ng, except in panel (c) where the amount of RNA was 50 pg.

The following describes an alternative means for subdividing and screening a positive pool. Working with cDNA inserts in a plasmid based rather than a lambda-based vector influences the subfractionation protocol. Once a positive pool is identified, the replica filter is overlayed with another sterile nitrocellulose filter. The filter is cut into 88 pieces by using evenly spaced cuts of 10 rows and 10 columns to form a grid. Each of the 88 pieces is transferred to 10 ml of sterile LB +Amp and grown for several hours. Twenty pools are formed; C 1-10 (corresponding to column number) and R 1-10 (corresponding to row number). An aliquot of each of the 88 subfractions is pipetted into 2 tubes, corresponding to its position in a row and a column. DNA is isolated from the 20 pools, purified on CsCl gradients and transcribed in an in vitro reaction that includes the control m1 and SEAP plasmids. After injection into oocytes and voltage-clamp recording there are 2 positive pools, pinpointing the location of 1 of the 88 original subfractions.

Because the positive clone is still part of a pool it must be further subdivided. The probability equation described above is used to determine the number of clones to be plated for the next subdivision of the pool. The glycerol stock from the positive pool is plated out at, e.g., 3000, 6000 and 18,000 clones per plate. After replica plating the DNA is harvested, transcribed, injected and assayed. The pool which is positive is subdivided into a grid of 88 as described above. The assay is repeated, and a single square of the grid is positive. At the next step of subdivision of the pool, 100 individual colonies to a plate are picked, replica plated, and 20 pools are made for transcription and assay. Positive clones are streaked out, several colonies picked and restriction mapped and template and transcript prepared for injection and assay.

Characterization of Glu_(G) R

To establish that the Glu_(G) R encoded by clone 45-A couples to G-protein, clone 45-A Glu_(G) R RNA was transcribed and injected into oocytes as described above. Two days after injection the oocytes were divided into control and toxin-treated groups. The oocytes in the toxin-treated group were treated with a final concentration of 4 μg/ml of B. pertussis toxin (List Biological Laboratories Inc., Campbell, Calif.), and both groups were incubated for 24 hours at 19° C. as described by Sugiyama et al., Nature 325:531 (1987) and Moriarty et al., J. Biol. Chem. 264:13521 (1989), both of which are incorporated by reference herein. The oocytes from both the control and toxin-treated groups were subjected to voltage-clamp assays as described previously. In one example, oocytes perfused as described previously with 100 μM L-glutamic acid showed a mean L-glutamic acid-induced current of 264.2 nA +/-73 nA in control oocytes (SEM, n=6) and 57.7 nA +/-19 nA (n=9) in toxin-treated oocytes. The mean membrane current in the toxin-treated group was significantly smaller (p<0.01) than in the control group suggesting that oocytes injected with 45-A RNA coupled to a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein.

L-glutamic acid and some of its structural derivatives that are known to activate Glu_(G) R currents in a dose-dependent manner were applied to oocytes that had been injected with RNA transcribed from the 45-A clone. RNA was transcribed and oocytes were prepared and injected as previously described. Dose dependent responses were measured using voltage clamp assays were carried out in the presence of increasing concentrations of L-glutamic acid (Sigma), quisqualic acid (Sigma), ibotenic acid (Sigma), or trans 1-amino-cyclopentyl-1,3 dicarboxylic acid (tACPD; Tocris Neuramin, Essex, England). Four or five separate oocytes were perfused with increasing concentrations of a particular drug with 30 minutes between consecutive applications of the drug to minimize any interference from desensitization. The responses were normalized to a subsequent response to 100 μM L-glutamic acid. The data were analyzed using the following equation:

    (Fractional current)=(Dose.sup.n)/(Dose.sup.n)+(EC.sub.50).sup.n,

where:

Dose=a dose of drug normalized to that evoked by a subsequent application of 100 μM L-glutamic acid;

Fractional current=the peak current evoked by a dose, as defined above;

EC₅₀ =effective concentration that evokes a 50% response (a measure of the potency of an agonist); and

n=the Hill coefficient, a measure of the cooperativity of the reaction.

Using this equation, the effective concentration at 50% stimulation relative to 100 μM L-glutamic acid was determined for each dose response experiment. FIG. 6 shows a representative dose response curve for varying concentrations of L-glutamic acid. The potency series of glutamate analogs and their associated EC₅₀ 's are listed in Table 2.

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                         Glutamate Analog Potencies (EC.sub.50)                                         ______________________________________                                         Quisqualic acid                                                                               0.681 μM                                                     L-glutamic acid                                                                               12.32 μM                                                     Ibotenic acid  32.37 μM                                                     tACPD            376 μM                                                     ______________________________________                                    

In addition, oocytes were exposed to the following L-glutamic acid analogs:aspartic acid (Tocris Neuramin), kainic acid, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA; Sigma), 2-amino-4-phosphonobytyric acid (APB; Sigma), α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-isoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA; Research Biochemicals Inc., Wayland, Mass.) at saturating concentrations and the responses were each normalized to a subsequent response to 100 μM L-glutamate. The L-glutamic acid analogs that were found to be ineffective were 1 mM aspartic acid, 1 mM kainic acid, 100 μM NMDA+10 μM glycine, 100 μM APB and 100 μM AMPA.

Voltage clamp assays were also carried out on injected oocytes to measure the inhibition by the putative glutamate G protein coupled receptor antagonist, 2-amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid (AP3). Voltage clamp assays showed that at 1 mM, DL-AP3 (Sigma) reduced the current evoked by 10 μM glutamic acid to 59.3+/-7.3% of the control.

Clone 45 cells were streaked out on LB Amp plates and several colonies were picked, grown up and the DNA isolated. Pure 45-A DNA was prepared and restriction mapped by standard procedures. Clone 45-A has been deposited with the American Type Culture Collection, 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md., 20852, under ATCC Accession No. 68497. DNA was digested with single or multiple enzymes. The fragments were separated on both 1% agarose and 4% Nusieve gels by electrophoresis. After electrophoresis the DNA was transferred to nitrocellulose filters using standard protocols for Southern transfer. Restriction sites were mapped based on size and based on hybridization to Pst I subclones of 45-A DNA. Additionally, the entire 45-A cDNA insert can be isolated by digestion with Not I restriction endonuclease. The Not I insert was kinased with ³² -P ATP, and after digestion of half of the sample with Bam HI to remove the 3' label, both samples were subjected to digestion with a number of enzymes known to be present once in the insert. In this way the unique sites could be localized. A restriction map of Glu_(G) R clone 45-A is shown in FIG. 3.

The entire 45-A clone was sequenced in both directions using the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method (Sanger and Coulson, J. Mol. Biol. 94:441 (1975), incorporated herein by reference). FIG. 5 (Sequence ID Nos. 1 and 2) shows the DNA sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of clone 45-A. FIG. 5 also shows the location of putative N-linked glycosylation sites, which have been predicted to occur at the amino acid sequence Asn-X-Thr.

As shown in FIG. 5, seven putative transmembrane domains have been predicted from the deduced amino acid sequence of clone 45-A using the method described by Eisenberg et al. J. Mol. Biol. 179:125-142, (1984), incorporated herein by reference. Only those predicted to be transmembrane multimeric domains were included. An additional transmembrane domain (the third) was predicted using the method of Hopp and Woods, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:3824-3838 (1981). Based on these predictions, the protein encoded by clone 45-A appears to have two unusually large domains on the amino- and carboxy-termini that are not found in any of the other reported G protein coupled receptors which have the common structural feature of seven predicted membrane spanning regions. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of clone 45-A predicts three other hydrophobic stretches including one at the amino-terminus of the sequence. This amino-terminal hydrophobic stretch may be a signal sequence, although no signal cleavage site is predicted downstream of the sequence.

Poly (A)+ RNA was isolated from total rat brain and rat cerebellum using oligo d(T) cellulose chromatography as described by Aviv and Leder (ibid.). Poly (A)+ RNA from rat retina, rat heart, rat lung, rat liver, rat kidney, rat spleen, rat testis, rat ovary and rat pancreas were purchased from Clonetech. The poly(A)+ RNA samples were analyzed by northern analysis (Thomas, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:5201-5205 (1980), which is incorporated by reference herein). The RNA was denatured in glyoxal, electrophoresed in agarose and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane essentially as described by Thomas (ibid.). The northern blot was hybridized with a radiolabeled 3473 bp Eco RI-Xba I fragment from the 45-A clone. Autoradiography of the blot showed hybridization to a major band of approximately 7 kb and a smaller band of approximately 3.8 kb in the total rat brain and rat cerebellum RNA.

Single-stranded cDNA was synthesized using 1 μg of the poly (A)+ RNA using Superscript reverse transcriptase (BRL) under conditions described by the manufacturer. One fourth of the cDNA was used as a template for PCR amplification using 40 pmoles each of the GluGR-specific primers ZC3652 (Table 1; Sequence ID Number 14) and ZC3654 (Table 1; Sequence ID Number 15) and 2.5 U Taq I polymerase (Perkin Elmer Cetus, Norwalk. Va.) and conditions specified by the manufacturer. As an internal control, the PCR reaction also contained 2 pmoles each of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-specific primers ZC3015 (Table 1; Sequence ID Number 12) and ZC3016 (Table 1; Sequence ID Number 13). After thirty cycles (one minute at 94° C., one minute at 60° C., ninety seconds at 72° C.), the samples were phenol-chloroform extracted and 20% of each reaction was electrophoresed in agarose. The DNA was bidirectionally transferred to nitrocellulose membranes, and the filters were hybridized with either radiolabeled ZC3652, ZC3654, ZC3015 and ZC3016 (Sequence ID Nos. 14, 15, 12 and 13, respectively) or with the radiolabeled Eco RI-Xba I fragment of clone 45-A described above. Autoradiography of the hybridized blot showed that Glu_(G) R transcript was mainly confined to total rat brain and rat cerebellum; however, longer exposures showed a Glu_(G) R-specific transcript in both retina and testis.

Total RNA was prepared, as described above, from specific rat brain regions including frontal cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, cortex, striatum, pons medulla, and the remainder of the brain. Single-stranded cDNA was synthesized as described previously using 20 μg of total RNA in 50 μl using Superscript reverse transcriptase (BRL) under conditions described by the manufacturer. After a one hour incubation at 42° C., the samples were treated with RNAse (Boehringer Mannheim Biochemicals, Indianapolis, Ind.), phenol-chloroform extracted, and ethanol precipitated. The samples were resuspended in water and half of each sample was subjected to PCR amplification. Each PCR amplification contained 40 pmoles of each of the Glu_(G) R-specific primers ZC3652 and ZC3654 described above (Sequence ID Numbers 14 and 15), 2 pmoles of each of the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-specific primers ZC3015 and ZC3016 (Sequence ID Nos. 12 and 13) and 2.5 U Taq I polymerase (Perkin Elmer Cetus) and conditions described by the manufacturer. After 35 cycles (one minute at 94° C., one minute at 60° C., ninety seconds at 72° C.), the samples were phenol-chloroform extracted, and 20% of each reaction was electrophoresed in agarose. The DNA was transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and the filter was hybridized with the radiolabeled Eco RI-Xba I fragment of clone 45-A described above. Autoradiography of the hybridized blots showed a broad distribution of the Glu_(G) R transcript throughout the brain, although the frontal cortex and cerebellum appear to be somewhat enriched.

Southern analysis of rat and human genomic DNA was carried out using the method essentially described by Blin et al. (Nuc. Acids Res. 3:2303 (1976), which is incorporated by reference herein). Briefly, rat and human genomic DNA was prepared from the rat cell line UMR 106 (ATCC CRL 1661) and a human hepatoma cell line (ATCC HTB 52), respectively. The genomic DNA was digested with either Eco RI or Pst I, and electrophoresed through agarose. The DNA was transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, and the membrane was hybridized with a radiolabeled 1.6 kb Pst I fragment from clone 45-A. Autoradiography of the hybridized blot suggest that the human gene has a similar sequence to the rat Glu_(G) R sequence, the Glu_(G) R gene contains at least one intron, and that there are a small number of closely related genes.

Expression in Mammalian Cells

The entire Glu_(G) R cDNA insert was removed from the pVEGT' cloning vector by digestion with Not I and Xba I. The ends were blunted with DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) and dNTPs, and were then ligated with Eco RI (Smart) linkers. After linker ligation, the insert with Eco RI ends in kinased and ligated to Eco RI-cut and capped Zem228 expression vector. Bacteria were transformed with the ligation reaction and clones were characterized by restriction analysis and partial sequencing (see FIG. 4).

Cultured mammalian cells, such as BHK 570 and BHK ts13 served as host cells for expression. Twenty-five μg of CsCl-purified DNA was precipitated with calcium phosphate and added to tissue culture cells in a 150 mm plate. After 4 hours the cells were subjected to a glycerol shock and were then put into non-selective medium. In some cases it may be necessary to include an antagonist to the Glu_(G) R in the medium to prevent expression of a cytotoxic response in those cells where the Glu_(G) R is expressed at levels high enough to cause a certain amount of autoactivation. Transiently expressed Glu_(G) R ligand binding activity or PLC activation, cells are harvested after 48 hours. Stable expression was detected after 2 weeks of selection. The Zem228 expression vector includes a promoter capable of directing the transcription of the Glu_(G) R gene, and a selectable marker for the bacterial neomycin resistance gene. Resistance to the drug G-418, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, was used to identify stably transfected clones. Presence of the SV40 ori region on the vector allows the expression construction to also be used for transient expression. In some instances it was preferable to include DNA for another selectable marker, the DHFR gene, in the transfection protocol. Selection with both G-418 and methotrexate allowed isolation of clones whose expression of Glu_(G) R can be subsequently amplified by the addition of increasingly higher concentrations of methotrexate to the culture medium.

Transfected cell lines expressing Glu_(G) R were identified by the binding of ³ H-glutamate to membrane preparations from transfected cells. Cell lines expressing low to moderate levels of Glu_(G) R are used to set up functional screening assays.

Clones of BHK 570 and BHK TK⁻ ts13 cells expressing the rat G protein coupled glutamate receptor cDNA were plated in two or three 150 mm maxi-plates culture dishes and were grown to confluency. The cells from each plate were scraped in 5 ml of PBS (phosphate buffered saline, Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.), which was pre-chilled to 4° C. The cells were removed to a chilled centrifuged tube, and the plates were each rinsed with 5 ml of chilled PBS and pooled with the cells. The chilled tubes were spun at 1,000 rpm for two minutes, and the supernatant was discarded. The cells were frozen at either -70° C. or on dry ice. In some cases, the cells were left overnight at -70° C. The cells were thawed on ice and were resuspended in 10 ml of a buffer containing 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂, 1 mM PMSF, which was pre-chilled to 4° C., by homogenizing the cells for about 15 seconds. The suspension was poured into chilled centrifuge tubes. The homogenizer was rinsed with 10 ml of the same chilled solution, and the rinse was combined with the suspension. The centrifuge tubes were spun for fifteen minutes at 40,000×g at 4° C., and the supernatant was discarded. The pellet was homogenized with a buffer containing 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂, which was pre-chilled to 4° C. The homogenizer was rinsed with the chilled buffer, and the rinse was combined with the homogenate. The homogenate was spun as described above. The second homogenization was repeated on the resulting pellet. The final pellet was resuspended in between two and five milliliters of 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂, which was pre-chilled to 4° C. Triplicate samples were prepared for each plus and minus quisqualate assay point such that 250 μl aliquots of each homogenate sample were added to the wells of a 96-well microtiter plate. To a buffer containing 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂, which was pre-chilled to 4° C., a final concentration of 10 nM tritiated glutamic acid was added, and the solution was split in half. To one half, quisqualate was added to a final concentration of 1 mM. Two hundred and fifty microliter aliquots of either 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂, 5 nM tritiated glutamic acid and 500 mM quisqualate, or 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl2, 5 nM tritiated glutamic acid were added to the triplicate samples. The samples were incubated for thirty minutes at room temperature. The samples were harvested onto glass filters and were immediately washed with ice-cold 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂ under vacuum using an LKB 1295-001 automated cell harvester (Pharmacia LKB, Piscataway, N.J.). The filters were dried in a microwave oven and counted in a gamma counter.

Protein determinations were carried out using a Coomassie Blue-based assay from Pierce Chemical Company (Rockford, Ill.) under conditions set forth by the manufacturer. One hundred microliters of undiluted cell homogenate or BSA standard was added to 2 ml of reagent and the optical density was measured at 595 nm. Protein concentrations of the samples were taken from a standard curve generated using the BSA standards diluted in 30 mM Tris, pH 7.0, 2.5 mM CaCl₂.

The results of these assays showed that quisqualate was able to competitively bind the glutamate receptor expressed by the transfected BHK cells.

Functional Screening of Agonists and Antagonists

BHK 570 cells expressing Glu_(G) R or mock-transfected BHK 570 cells are plated into 24-well tissue culture dishes at about 100,000 cells per well. After 24 hours, the cells are labeled with 0.2 μCi of myo-(2-³ H) inositol (specific activity-20 Ci/mmol; New England Nuclear,) per well. At the end of a 24 to 48 hour incubation, the cells are washed with prewarmed DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagles Medium; Product No. 51-432, JRH Biosciences, Lenexa, Kans.) which has been buffered to pH 7.4 with Hepes buffer (Sigma Chemical Co.) containing 10 mM LiCl, and are incubated for five minutes at 37. The selected drugs are then added and the cells are incubated for an additional thirty minutes at 37° C. The reaction is stopped by placing the cells on ice, and the cells are lysed by aspirating off the media and adding 0.5 ml of cold DMEM and 0.5 ml of ice-cold 10% perchloric acid. After ten minutes the cell lysate is transferred to a tube on ice containing 250 μl 10 mM EDTA, pH 7.0. The samples are neutralized with 325 μl of 1.5 M KOH in 60 mM Hepes Buffer. After the precipitates settles, 1.0 ml of the supernatant is applied to an Amprep minicolumn (Amersham, Arlington Heights, Ill., RPN1908). Inositol phosphates are eluted off the column and samples are counted in a scintillation counter. A positive response is indicated by an increase in labeled inositol phosphate levels.

    __________________________________________________________________________     SEQUENCE LISTING                                                               (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:                                                       (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 15                                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 4300 base pairs                                                    (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA                                                       (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE:                                                          (A) ORGANISM: Rattus norvegicus                                                (F) TISSUE TYPE: Cerebellum                                                    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: 45-A                                                                (ix) FEATURE:                                                                  (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 377..3973                                                        (D) OTHER INFORMATION:                                                         (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:                                        CCGAGAACGGCTGCAGTCCTCTGACCTGAGACCAATAGCTGTGTCTACCCGGACTCAGCG60                 TCCAGCTCACCGCCACTAACGCGCCGCGCATTGGACACCTGATCCACACACCTTCGGGCA120                CCAGTGAAAAACCGCGACTTGATTTTCTGGAAGAACGCCCCCAGGGTGTGGGAGCGGTCG180                TGGAGGACCAGCAGGAGGAAGCGGAGGGGAGAGGGGCAGTAGTGGAGGCAGAGAAAGCGT240                TGAACCAGCTGTGTTGGCCGAAGGCACGAAACGGCAAAAGGCAGCGGTGAGCATCTGTGT300                GGTTCCCGCTGGGAACCTGCAGGCAGGACCGGCGTGGGAACGTGGCTGGCCCGCGGTGGA360                CCGCGTCTTCGCCACAATGGTCCGGCTCCTCTTGATTTTCTTCCCAATG409                           MetValArgLeuLeuLeuIlePhePheProMet                                              1510                                                                           ATCTTTTTGGAGATGTCCATTTTGCCCAGGATGCCTGACAGAAAAGTA457                            IlePheLeuGluMetSerIleLeuProArgMetProAspArgLysVal                               152025                                                                         TTGCTGGCAGGTGCCTCGTCCCAGCGCTCCGTGGCGAGAATGGACGGA505                            LeuLeuAlaGlyAlaSerSerGlnArgSerValAlaArgMetAspGly                               303540                                                                         GATGTCATCATCGGAGCCCTCTTCTCAGTCCATCACCAGCCTCCAGCC553                            AspValIleIleGlyAlaLeuPheSerValHisHisGlnProProAla                               455055                                                                         GAGAAGGTACCCGAAAGGAAGTGTGGGGAGATCAGGGAACAGTATGGT601                            GluLysValProGluArgLysCysGlyGluIleArgGluGlnTyrGly                               60657075                                                                       ATCCAGAGGGTGGAGGCCATGTTCCACACGTTGGATAAGATTAACGCG649                            IleGlnArgValGluAlaMetPheHisThrLeuAspLysIleAsnAla                               808590                                                                         GACCCGGTGCTCCTGCCCAACATCACTCTGGGCAGTGAGATCCGGGAC697                            AspProValLeuLeuProAsnIleThrLeuGlySerGluIleArgAsp                               95100105                                                                       TCCTGCTGGCACTCTTCAGTGGCTCTCGAACAGAGCATCGAATTCATC745                            SerCysTrpHisSerSerValAlaLeuGluGlnSerIleGluPheIle                               110115120                                                                      AGAGACTCCCTGATTTCCATCCGAGATGAGAAGGATGGGCTGAACCGA793                            ArgAspSerLeuIleSerIleArgAspGluLysAspGlyLeuAsnArg                               125130135                                                                      TGCCTGCCTGATGGCCAGACCCTGCCCCCTGGCAGGACTAAGAAGCCT841                            CysLeuProAspGlyGlnThrLeuProProGlyArgThrLysLysPro                               140145150155                                                                   ATTGCTGGAGTGATCGGCCCTGGCTCCAGCTCTGTGGCCATTCAAGTC889                            IleAlaGlyValIleGlyProGlySerSerSerValAlaIleGlnVal                               160165170                                                                      CAGAATCTTCTCCAGCTGTTCGACATCCCACAGATCGCCTATTCTGCC937                            GlnAsnLeuLeuGlnLeuPheAspIleProGlnIleAlaTyrSerAla                               175180185                                                                      ACAAGCATAGACCTGAGTGACAAAACTTTGTACAAATACTTCCTGAGG985                            ThrSerIleAspLeuSerAspLysThrLeuTyrLysTyrPheLeuArg                               190195200                                                                      GTGGTCCCTTCTGACACTTTGCAGGCAAGGGCGATGCTCGACATAGTC1033                           ValValProSerAspThrLeuGlnAlaArgAlaMetLeuAspIleVal                               205210215                                                                      AAGCGTTACAACTGGACCTATGTCTCAGCAGTCCACACAGAAGGGAAT1081                           LysArgTyrAsnTrpThrTyrValSerAlaValHisThrGluGlyAsn                               220225230235                                                                   TACGGCGAGAGTGGAATGGATGCTTTCAAAGAACTGGCTGCCCAGGAA1129                           TyrGlyGluSerGlyMetAspAlaPheLysGluLeuAlaAlaGlnGlu                               240245250                                                                      GGCCTCTGCATCGCACACTCGGACAAAATCTACAGCAATGCTGGCGAG1177                           GlyLeuCysIleAlaHisSerAspLysIleTyrSerAsnAlaGlyGlu                               255260265                                                                      AAGAGCTTTGACCGGCTCCTGCGTAAACTCCGGGAGCGGCTTCCCAAG1225                           LysSerPheAspArgLeuLeuArgLysLeuArgGluArgLeuProLys                               270275280                                                                      GCCAGGGTTGTGGTCTGCTTCTGCGAGGGCATGACAGTGCGGGGCTTA1273                           AlaArgValValValCysPheCysGluGlyMetThrValArgGlyLeu                               285290295                                                                      CTGAGTGCCATGCGCCGCCTGGGCGTCGTGGGCGAGTTCTCACTCATT1321                           LeuSerAlaMetArgArgLeuGlyValValGlyGluPheSerLeuIle                               300305310315                                                                   GGAAGTGATGGATGGGCAGACAGAGATGAAGTCATCGAAGGCTATGAG1369                           GlySerAspGlyTrpAlaAspArgAspGluValIleGluGlyTyrGlu                               320325330                                                                      GTGGAAGCCAACGGAGGGATCACAATAAAGCTTCAGTCTCCAGAGGTC1417                           ValGluAlaAsnGlyGlyIleThrIleLysLeuGlnSerProGluVal                               335340345                                                                      AGGTCATTTGATGACTACTTCCTGAAGCTGAGGCTGGACACCAACACA1465                           ArgSerPheAspAspTyrPheLeuLysLeuArgLeuAspThrAsnThr                               350355360                                                                      AGGAATCCTTGGTTCCCTGAGTTCTGGCAACATCGCTTCCAGTGTCGC1513                           ArgAsnProTrpPheProGluPheTrpGlnHisArgPheGlnCysArg                               365370375                                                                      CTACCTGGACACCTCTTGGAAAACCCCAACTTTAAGAAAGTGTGCACA1561                           LeuProGlyHisLeuLeuGluAsnProAsnPheLysLysValCysThr                               380385390395                                                                   GGAAATGAAAGCTTGGAAGAAAACTATGTCCAGGACAGCAAAATGGGA1609                           GlyAsnGluSerLeuGluGluAsnTyrValGlnAspSerLysMetGly                               400405410                                                                      TTTGTCATCAATGCCATCTATGCCATGGCACATGGGCTGCAGAACATG1657                           PheValIleAsnAlaIleTyrAlaMetAlaHisGlyLeuGlnAsnMet                               415420425                                                                      CACCATGCTCTGTGTCCCGGCCATGTGGGCCTGTGTGATGCTATGAAA1705                           HisHisAlaLeuCysProGlyHisValGlyLeuCysAspAlaMetLys                               430435440                                                                      CCCATTGATGGCAGGAAGCTCCTGGATTTCCTCATCAAATCCTCTTTT1753                           ProIleAspGlyArgLysLeuLeuAspPheLeuIleLysSerSerPhe                               445450455                                                                      GTCGGAGTGTCTGGAGAGGAGGTGTGGTTCGATGAGAAGGGGGATGCT1801                           ValGlyValSerGlyGluGluValTrpPheAspGluLysGlyAspAla                               460465470475                                                                   CCCGGAAGGTATGACATTATGAATCTGCAGTACACAGAAGCTAATCGC1849                           ProGlyArgTyrAspIleMetAsnLeuGlnTyrThrGluAlaAsnArg                               480485490                                                                      TATGACTATGTCCACGTGGGGACCTGGCATGAAGGAGTGCTGAATATT1897                           TyrAspTyrValHisValGlyThrTrpHisGluGlyValLeuAsnIle                               495500505                                                                      GATGATTACAAAATCCAGATGAACAAAAGCGGAATGGTACGATCTGTG1945                           AspAspTyrLysIleGlnMetAsnLysSerGlyMetValArgSerVal                               510515520                                                                      TGCAGTGAGCCTTGCTTAAAGGGTCAGATTAAGGTCATACGGAAAGGA1993                           CysSerGluProCysLeuLysGlyGlnIleLysValIleArgLysGly                               525530535                                                                      GAAGTGAGCTGCTGCTGGATCTGCACGGCCTGCAAAGAGAATGAGTTT2041                           GluValSerCysCysTrpIleCysThrAlaCysLysGluAsnGluPhe                               540545550555                                                                   GTGCAGGACGAGTTCACCTGCAGAGCCTGTGACCTGGGGTGGTGGCCC2089                           ValGlnAspGluPheThrCysArgAlaCysAspLeuGlyTrpTrpPro                               560565570                                                                      AACGCAGAGCTCACAGGCTGTGAGCCCATTCCTGTCCGTTATCTTGAG2137                           AsnAlaGluLeuThrGlyCysGluProIleProValArgTyrLeuGlu                               575580585                                                                      TGGAGTGACATAGAATCTATCATAGCCATCGCCTTTTCTTGCCTGGGC2185                           TrpSerAspIleGluSerIleIleAlaIleAlaPheSerCysLeuGly                               590595600                                                                      ATCCTCGTGACGCTGTTTGTCACCCTCATCTTCGTTCTGTACCGGGAC2233                           IleLeuValThrLeuPheValThrLeuIlePheValLeuTyrArgAsp                               605610615                                                                      ACACCCGTGGTCAAATCCTCCAGTAGGGAGCTCTGCTATATCATTCTG2281                           ThrProValValLysSerSerSerArgGluLeuCysTyrIleIleLeu                               620625630635                                                                   GCTGGTATTTTCCTCGGCTATGTGTGCCCTTTCACCCTCATCGCCAAA2329                           AlaGlyIlePheLeuGlyTyrValCysProPheThrLeuIleAlaLys                               640645650                                                                      CCTACTACCACATCCTGCTACCTCCAGCGCCTCCTAGTTGGCCTCTCT2377                           ProThrThrThrSerCysTyrLeuGlnArgLeuLeuValGlyLeuSer                               655660665                                                                      TCTGCCATGTGCTACTCTGCTTTAGTGACCAAAACCAATCGTATTGCA2425                           SerAlaMetCysTyrSerAlaLeuValThrLysThrAsnArgIleAla                               670675680                                                                      CGCATCCTGGCTGGCAGCAAGAAGAAGATCTGCACCCGGAAGCCCAGA2473                           ArgIleLeuAlaGlySerLysLysLysIleCysThrArgLysProArg                               685690695                                                                      TTCATGAGCGCTTGGGCCCAAGTGATCATAGCCTCCATTCTGATTAGT2521                           PheMetSerAlaTrpAlaGlnValIleIleAlaSerIleLeuIleSer                               700705710715                                                                   GTACAGCTAACACTAGTGGTGACCTTGATCATCATGGAGCCTCCCATG2569                           ValGlnLeuThrLeuValValThrLeuIleIleMetGluProProMet                               720725730                                                                      CCCATTTTGTCCTACCCGAGTATCAAGGAAGTCTACCTTATCTGCAAT2617                           ProIleLeuSerTyrProSerIleLysGluValTyrLeuIleCysAsn                               735740745                                                                      ACCAGCAACCTGGGTGTAGTGGCCCCTGTGGGTTACAATGGACTCCTC2665                           ThrSerAsnLeuGlyValValAlaProValGlyTyrAsnGlyLeuLeu                               750755760                                                                      ATCATGAGCTGTACCTACTATGCCTTCAAGACCCGCAACGTGCCGGCC2713                           IleMetSerCysThrTyrTyrAlaPheLysThrArgAsnValProAla                               765770775                                                                      AACTTCAATGAGGCTAAATACATCGCCTTCACCATGTACACTACCTGC2761                           AsnPheAsnGluAlaLysTyrIleAlaPheThrMetTyrThrThrCys                               780785790795                                                                   ATCATCTGGCTGGCTTTCGTTCCCATTTACTTTGGGAGCAACTACAAG2809                           IleIleTrpLeuAlaPheValProIleTyrPheGlySerAsnTyrLys                               800805810                                                                      ATCATCACTACCTGCTTCGCGGTGAGCCTCAGTGTGACGGTGGCCCTG2857                           IleIleThrThrCysPheAlaValSerLeuSerValThrValAlaLeu                               815820825                                                                      GGGTGCATGTTTACTCCGAAGATGTACATCATCATTGCCAAACCTGAG2905                           GlyCysMetPheThrProLysMetTyrIleIleIleAlaLysProGlu                               830835840                                                                      AGGAACGTCCGCAGTGCCTTCACGACCTCTGATGTTGTCCGCATGCAC2953                           ArgAsnValArgSerAlaPheThrThrSerAspValValArgMetHis                               845850855                                                                      GTCGGTGATGGCAAACTGCCGTGCCGCTCCAACACCTTCCTCAACATT3001                           ValGlyAspGlyLysLeuProCysArgSerAsnThrPheLeuAsnIle                               860865870875                                                                   TTCCGGAGAAAGAAGCCCGGGGCAGGGAATGCCAATTCTAACGGCAAG3049                           PheArgArgLysLysProGlyAlaGlyAsnAlaAsnSerAsnGlyLys                               880885890                                                                      TCTGTGTCATGGTCTGAACCAGGTGGAAGACAGGCGCCCAAGGGACAG3097                           SerValSerTrpSerGluProGlyGlyArgGlnAlaProLysGlyGln                               895900905                                                                      CACGTGTGGCAGCGCCTCTCTGTGCACGTGAAGACCAACGAGACGGCC3145                           HisValTrpGlnArgLeuSerValHisValLysThrAsnGluThrAla                               910915920                                                                      TGTAACCAAACAGCCGTAATCAAACCCCTCACTAAAAGTTACCAAGGC3193                           CysAsnGlnThrAlaValIleLysProLeuThrLysSerTyrGlnGly                               925930935                                                                      TCTGGCAAGAGCCTGACCTTTTCAGATGCCAGCACCAAGACCCTTTAC3241                           SerGlyLysSerLeuThrPheSerAspAlaSerThrLysThrLeuTyr                               940945950955                                                                   AATGTGGAAGAAGAGGACAATACCCCTTCTGCTCACTTCAGCCCTCCC3289                           AsnValGluGluGluAspAsnThrProSerAlaHisPheSerProPro                               960965970                                                                      AGCAGCCCTTCTATGGTGGTGCACCGACGCGGGCCACCCGTGGCCACC3337                           SerSerProSerMetValValHisArgArgGlyProProValAlaThr                               975980985                                                                      ACACCACCTCTGCCACCCCATCTGACCGCAGAAGAGACCCCCCTGTTC3385                           ThrProProLeuProProHisLeuThrAlaGluGluThrProLeuPhe                               9909951000                                                                     CTGGCTGATTCCGTCATCCCCAAGGGCTTGCCTCCTCCTCTCCCGCAG3433                           LeuAlaAspSerValIleProLysGlyLeuProProProLeuProGln                               100510101015                                                                   CAGCAGCCACAGCAGCCGCCCCCTCAGCAGCCCCCGCAGCAGCCCAAG3481                           GlnGlnProGlnGlnProProProGlnGlnProProGlnGlnProLys                               1020102510301035                                                               TCCCTGATGGACCAGCTGCAAGGCGTAGTCACCAACTTCGGTTCGGGG3529                           SerLeuMetAspGlnLeuGlnGlyValValThrAsnPheGlySerGly                               104010451050                                                                   ATTCCAGATTTCCATGCGGTGCTGGCAGGCCCGGGGACACCAGGAAAC3577                           IleProAspPheHisAlaValLeuAlaGlyProGlyThrProGlyAsn                               105510601065                                                                   AGCCTGCGCTCTCTGTACCCGCCCCCGCCTCCGCCGCAACACCTGCAG3625                           SerLeuArgSerLeuTyrProProProProProProGlnHisLeuGln                               107010751080                                                                   ATGCTGCCCCTGCACCTGAGCACCTTCCAGGAGGAGTCCATCTCCCCT3673                           MetLeuProLeuHisLeuSerThrPheGlnGluGluSerIleSerPro                               108510901095                                                                   CCTGGGGAGGACATCGATGATGACAGTGAGAGATTCAAGCTCCTGCAG3721                           ProGlyGluAspIleAspAspAspSerGluArgPheLysLeuLeuGln                               1100110511101115                                                               GAGTTCGTGTACGAGCGCGAAGGGAACACCGAAGAAGATGAATTGGAA3769                           GluPheValTyrGluArgGluGlyAsnThrGluGluAspGluLeuGlu                               112011251130                                                                   GAGGAGGAGGACCTGCCCACAGCCAGCAAGCTGACCCCTGAGGATTCT3817                           GluGluGluAspLeuProThrAlaSerLysLeuThrProGluAspSer                               113511401145                                                                   CCTGCCCTGACGCCTCCTTCTCCTTTCCGAGATTCCGTGGCCTCTGGC3865                           ProAlaLeuThrProProSerProPheArgAspSerValAlaSerGly                               115011551160                                                                   AGCTCAGTGCCCAGTTCCCCCGTATCTGAGTCGGTCCTCTGCACCCCT3913                           SerSerValProSerSerProValSerGluSerValLeuCysThrPro                               116511701175                                                                   CCAAATGTAACCTACGCCTCTGTCATTCTGAGGGACTACAAGCAAAGC3961                           ProAsnValThrTyrAlaSerValIleLeuArgAspTyrLysGlnSer                               1180118511901195                                                               TCTTCCACCCTGTAGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGGGGGCGGGGGGAGTGCGCATG4013                       SerSerThrLeu                                                                   GAGAAGCCAGAGATGCCAAGGAGTGTCAACCCTTCCAGAAATGTGTAGAAAGCAGGGTGA4073               GGGATGGGGATGGAGGACCACGGTCTGCAGGGAAGAAAAAAAAAATGCTGCGGCTGCCTT4133               AAAGAAGGAGAGGGACGATGCCAACTGAACAGTGGTCCTGGCCAGGATTGTGACTCTTGA4193               ATTATTCAAAAACCTTCTCTAGAAAGAAAGGGAATTATGACAAAGCACAATTCCATATGG4253               TATGTAACTTTTATCGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA4300                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 1199 amino acids                                                   (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                                    (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:                                        MetValArgLeuLeuLeuIlePhePheProMetIlePheLeuGluMet                               151015                                                                         SerIleLeuProArgMetProAspArgLysValLeuLeuAlaGlyAla                               202530                                                                         SerSerGlnArgSerValAlaArgMetAspGlyAspValIleIleGly                               354045                                                                         AlaLeuPheSerValHisHisGlnProProAlaGluLysValProGlu                               505560                                                                         ArgLysCysGlyGluIleArgGluGlnTyrGlyIleGlnArgValGlu                               65707580                                                                       AlaMetPheHisThrLeuAspLysIleAsnAlaAspProValLeuLeu                               859095                                                                         ProAsnIleThrLeuGlySerGluIleArgAspSerCysTrpHisSer                               100105110                                                                      SerValAlaLeuGluGlnSerIleGluPheIleArgAspSerLeuIle                               115120125                                                                      SerIleArgAspGluLysAspGlyLeuAsnArgCysLeuProAspGly                               130135140                                                                      GlnThrLeuProProGlyArgThrLysLysProIleAlaGlyValIle                               145150155160                                                                   GlyProGlySerSerSerValAlaIleGlnValGlnAsnLeuLeuGln                               165170175                                                                      LeuPheAspIleProGlnIleAlaTyrSerAlaThrSerIleAspLeu                               180185190                                                                      SerAspLysThrLeuTyrLysTyrPheLeuArgValValProSerAsp                               195200205                                                                      ThrLeuGlnAlaArgAlaMetLeuAspIleValLysArgTyrAsnTrp                               210215220                                                                      ThrTyrValSerAlaValHisThrGluGlyAsnTyrGlyGluSerGly                               225230235240                                                                   MetAspAlaPheLysGluLeuAlaAlaGlnGluGlyLeuCysIleAla                               245250255                                                                      HisSerAspLysIleTyrSerAsnAlaGlyGluLysSerPheAspArg                               260265270                                                                      LeuLeuArgLysLeuArgGluArgLeuProLysAlaArgValValVal                               275280285                                                                      CysPheCysGluGlyMetThrValArgGlyLeuLeuSerAlaMetArg                               290295300                                                                      ArgLeuGlyValValGlyGluPheSerLeuIleGlySerAspGlyTrp                               305310315320                                                                   AlaAspArgAspGluValIleGluGlyTyrGluValGluAlaAsnGly                               325330335                                                                      GlyIleThrIleLysLeuGlnSerProGluValArgSerPheAspAsp                               340345350                                                                      TyrPheLeuLysLeuArgLeuAspThrAsnThrArgAsnProTrpPhe                               355360365                                                                      ProGluPheTrpGlnHisArgPheGlnCysArgLeuProGlyHisLeu                               370375380                                                                      LeuGluAsnProAsnPheLysLysValCysThrGlyAsnGluSerLeu                               385390395400                                                                   GluGluAsnTyrValGlnAspSerLysMetGlyPheValIleAsnAla                               405410415                                                                      IleTyrAlaMetAlaHisGlyLeuGlnAsnMetHisHisAlaLeuCys                               420425430                                                                      ProGlyHisValGlyLeuCysAspAlaMetLysProIleAspGlyArg                               435440445                                                                      LysLeuLeuAspPheLeuIleLysSerSerPheValGlyValSerGly                               450455460                                                                      GluGluValTrpPheAspGluLysGlyAspAlaProGlyArgTyrAsp                               465470475480                                                                   IleMetAsnLeuGlnTyrThrGluAlaAsnArgTyrAspTyrValHis                               485490495                                                                      ValGlyThrTrpHisGluGlyValLeuAsnIleAspAspTyrLysIle                               500505510                                                                      GlnMetAsnLysSerGlyMetValArgSerValCysSerGluProCys                               515520525                                                                      LeuLysGlyGlnIleLysValIleArgLysGlyGluValSerCysCys                               530535540                                                                      TrpIleCysThrAlaCysLysGluAsnGluPheValGlnAspGluPhe                               545550555560                                                                   ThrCysArgAlaCysAspLeuGlyTrpTrpProAsnAlaGluLeuThr                               565570575                                                                      GlyCysGluProIleProValArgTyrLeuGluTrpSerAspIleGlu                               580585590                                                                      SerIleIleAlaIleAlaPheSerCysLeuGlyIleLeuValThrLeu                               595600605                                                                      PheValThrLeuIlePheValLeuTyrArgAspThrProValValLys                               610615620                                                                      SerSerSerArgGluLeuCysTyrIleIleLeuAlaGlyIlePheLeu                               625630635640                                                                   GlyTyrValCysProPheThrLeuIleAlaLysProThrThrThrSer                               645650655                                                                      CysTyrLeuGlnArgLeuLeuValGlyLeuSerSerAlaMetCysTyr                               660665670                                                                      SerAlaLeuValThrLysThrAsnArgIleAlaArgIleLeuAlaGly                               675680685                                                                      SerLysLysLysIleCysThrArgLysProArgPheMetSerAlaTrp                               690695700                                                                      AlaGlnValIleIleAlaSerIleLeuIleSerValGlnLeuThrLeu                               705710715720                                                                   ValValThrLeuIleIleMetGluProProMetProIleLeuSerTyr                               725730735                                                                      ProSerIleLysGluValTyrLeuIleCysAsnThrSerAsnLeuGly                               740745750                                                                      ValValAlaProValGlyTyrAsnGlyLeuLeuIleMetSerCysThr                               755760765                                                                      TyrTyrAlaPheLysThrArgAsnValProAlaAsnPheAsnGluAla                               770775780                                                                      LysTyrIleAlaPheThrMetTyrThrThrCysIleIleTrpLeuAla                               785790795800                                                                   PheValProIleTyrPheGlySerAsnTyrLysIleIleThrThrCys                               805810815                                                                      PheAlaValSerLeuSerValThrValAlaLeuGlyCysMetPheThr                               820825830                                                                      ProLysMetTyrIleIleIleAlaLysProGluArgAsnValArgSer                               835840845                                                                      AlaPheThrThrSerAspValValArgMetHisValGlyAspGlyLys                               850855860                                                                      LeuProCysArgSerAsnThrPheLeuAsnIlePheArgArgLysLys                               865870875880                                                                   ProGlyAlaGlyAsnAlaAsnSerAsnGlyLysSerValSerTrpSer                               885890895                                                                      GluProGlyGlyArgGlnAlaProLysGlyGlnHisValTrpGlnArg                               900905910                                                                      LeuSerValHisValLysThrAsnGluThrAlaCysAsnGlnThrAla                               915920925                                                                      ValIleLysProLeuThrLysSerTyrGlnGlySerGlyLysSerLeu                               930935940                                                                      ThrPheSerAspAlaSerThrLysThrLeuTyrAsnValGluGluGlu                               945950955960                                                                   AspAsnThrProSerAlaHisPheSerProProSerSerProSerMet                               965970975                                                                      ValValHisArgArgGlyProProValAlaThrThrProProLeuPro                               980985990                                                                      ProHisLeuThrAlaGluGluThrProLeuPheLeuAlaAspSerVal                               99510001005                                                                    IleProLysGlyLeuProProProLeuProGlnGlnGlnProGlnGln                               101010151020                                                                   ProProProGlnGlnProProGlnGlnProLysSerLeuMetAspGln                               1025103010351040                                                               LeuGlnGlyValValThrAsnPheGlySerGlyIleProAspPheHis                               104510501055                                                                   AlaValLeuAlaGlyProGlyThrProGlyAsnSerLeuArgSerLeu                               106010651070                                                                   TyrProProProProProProGlnHisLeuGlnMetLeuProLeuHis                               107510801085                                                                   LeuSerThrPheGlnGluGluSerIleSerProProGlyGluAspIle                               109010951100                                                                   AspAspAspSerGluArgPheLysLeuLeuGlnGluPheValTyrGlu                               1105111011151120                                                               ArgGluGlyAsnThrGluGluAspGluLeuGluGluGluGluAspLeu                               112511301135                                                                   ProThrAlaSerLysLeuThrProGluAspSerProAlaLeuThrPro                               114011451150                                                                   ProSerProPheArgAspSerValAlaSerGlySerSerValProSer                               115511601165                                                                   SerProValSerGluSerValLeuCysThrProProAsnValThrTyr                               117011751180                                                                   AlaSerValIleLeuArgAspTyrLysGlnSerSerSerThrLeu                                  118511901195                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 35 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC775                                                               (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:                                        GCTAGCATAACCCCTTGGGGCCTCTAAACGGGTCT35                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 43 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC776                                                               (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:                                        CTCAAGACCCGTTTAGAGGCCCCAAGGGGTTATGCTAGCTGCA43                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 40 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC777                                                               (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:                                        TGAGGGGTTTTTTGCTGAAAGGAGGAACTATGCGGCCGCA40                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 40 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC778                                                               (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:                                        AGCTTGCGGCCGCATAGTTCCTCCTTTCAGCAAAAAACCC40                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 19 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC1751                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:                                        AATTCTGTGCTCTGTCAAG19                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 19 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC1752                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:                                        GATCCTTGACAGAGCACAG19                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 22 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC2063                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:                                        GATCCAAACTAGTAAAAGAGCT22                                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC2064                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:                                       CTTTTACTAGTTTG14                                                               (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 43 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC2938                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:                                       GACAGAGCACAGATTCACTAGTGAGCTCTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT43                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC3015                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:                                       TTCCATGGCACCGTCAAGGCT21                                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC3016                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:                                       AGTGATGGCATGGACTGTGGT21                                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 20 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC3652                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:                                       ACATGCACCATGCTCTGTGT20                                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs                                                      (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (B) CLONE: ZC3654                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:                                       AGTGATGGCATGGACTGTGGT21                                                        __________________________________________________________________________ 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for identifying a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor agonist, which comprises:incubating a eukaryotic cell comprising a cloned DNA molecule encoding the mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor with a compound, wherein the cloned DNA molecule hybridizes at high stringency to an oligonucleotide of 60 or more contiguous nucleotides of SEQ. ID. NO:1 or its complement, and wherein the eukaryotic cell expresses the mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor from the cloned DNA; detecting a change in the activity of a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor second messenger system compared to said cell not incubated with the compound or a eukaryotic cell not expressing the mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor, wherein the second messenger system is an inositol triphosphate/diacyl glycerol-protein kinase C system, an adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase system or a guanylate cyclase and cGMP-dependent protein kinase system; and, relating a change in activity with the ability of the compound to act as a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor agonist.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the eukaryotic cell expresses a human or rodent G protein coupled glutamate receptor.
 3. The method of claim, wherein the second messenger system is an inositol triphosphate/diacyl glycerol-protein kinase C system or an adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase system.
 4. A method for identifying a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor antagonist, which comprises:incubating a eukaryotic cell comprising a cloned DNA molecule encoding the mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor with a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor agonist and a compound, wherein the cloned DNA molecule hybridizes at high stringency to an oligonucleotide of 60 or more contiguous nucleotides of SEQ. ID. NO: 1 or its complement, and wherein the eukaryotic cell expresses the mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor from the cloned DNA: detecting a change in the activity of a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor second messenger system compared to said cell not incubated with the compound, wherein the second messenger system is an inositol triphosphate/diacyl glycerol-protein kinase C system, an adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase system or a guanylate cyclase cGMP-dependent protein kinase system; and, relating a change in activity with the ability of the compound to act as a mammalian G protein coupled glutamate receptor antagonist.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the agonist is glutamate or quisqualate.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the eukaryotic cell expresses a human or rodent G protein coupled glutamate receptor.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the second messenger system is an inositol triphosphate/diacyl glycerol-protein kinase C system or an adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase system. 